Il sapere tradizionale di Evola e la scienza ermetica di Hegel

Il sapere tradizionale di Evola e la scienza ermetica di Hegel

Giandomenico Casalino

Ex: http://www.ereticamente.net

La comparazione di natura filosofica tra Julius Evola e Giorgio F. G. Hegel, pensatori di natura sapienziale tanto lontani nel tempo e, quindi, apparentemente, così differenti, sia nel lessico da loro adottato che in relazione al contesto storico-culturale in cui hanno vissuto ed operato, impone rigorosamente la ricerca di ciò che realmente abbia significato per gli stessi la Cosa del pensiero, l’oggetto di cui e su cui hanno tematizzato, al di là delle modalità e cioè delle divergenze attraverso le quali, tutto ciò, loro malgrado, si è espresso. Quindi il lavoro deve essere caratterizzato da un approccio di natura ermeneutica, che privilegi non tanto la dimensione filologica quanto quella teoretica che, data la sua natura, abbia l’ambizione di varcare i limiti del tempo e delle stagioni culturali e, per dirla con il Kerenyi, entri in Idea nel cuore del Pensiero, che, nella sua inten­zionalità, li ha guidati nel percorso dello Spirito. Quanto dedotto vuol significare che, come intorno ad Evola il discorso deve superare la “vulgata” del suo preteso “abbandono” della Filosofia, con la co­siddetta “chiusura” del periodo ad essa dedicato e l’ “apertura” nei confronti di ciò che tout court si è definito Tradizione, così per lo Hegel è necessario emendare radicalmente quanto certa critica pigra e conformista ha dedotto sulla sua pretesa modernità e sul concetto di razionale confuso e mistifi­cato con quello cristiano e/o moderno di razionalismo individualistico e quindi astratto. At­tesa la complessa vastità del tema, faremo in modo di esaminare e di indicare sinteticamente alcuni nodi essenziali comuni alla prospettiva sia di Evola che di Hegel, al fine di offrire quelli che, secondo noi, pos­sono essere i percorsi di ricerca e di studio relativi alla quaestio sollevata.

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L’autentica “svolta” spirituale esperita da Evola alla fine degli anni venti del Novecento non è con­sistita, a ben riflettere, in un “abbandono” della Fi­losofia e del suo orizzonte di ricerca e di visione, del suo oggetto di amore e dei suoi itinerari aristo­telicamente dovuti, ma bensì in un lasciare al suo destino di impotenza gnoseologica e di inefficacia spirituale la Filosofia moderna o meglio il concetto moderno della stessa (che è poi quello cristiano…). La frase di Lagneau sulla Filosofia considerata una sorta di “…riflessione tesa a riconoscere la sua propria insufficienza e la necessità di un’azione assoluta che conduca al di là della medesima…” (Rev. de Met. et de Mor., Mars 1898, p. 127), posta da Evola come “incipit” ai Saggi sull’idealismo ma­gico (1925), in concreto vuol significare che per realizzare il suo logos, la sua ragione, la Filosofia nel momento attuale, deve superare, andare al di là, effettuare un salto di natura ontologica per collo­carsi nel luogo dello spirito che, e qui sta l’autenticità ermeneutica del percorso evoliano, è il luogo di pertinenza da sempre della Filosofia nel suo unico e autentico significato che è quello premo­derno e cioè greco: percorso spirituale, di natura iniziatica, in un télos che è l’omòiosis theò! Ciò è quanto Evola ha compiuto nella sua azione realiz­zativa e di paidéia dei fondamenti della Scienza dello Spirito, sin dalla costituzione del Gruppo di UR, la cui natura, nel significato di essenza e quindi la sua virtus come finalità, è alquanto simile a ciò che è stata l’Accademia Platonica dagli inizi sino a Proclo: palestra rigorosa del Sapere che è ascesi filosofico-rituale e non cerimoniale, la cui finalità, pertanto, è l’assimilazione al Divino. Tutto ciò cosa ha a che fare con il concetto e la prassi moderni della Filo­sofia? Cosa ha a che fare la vera ricerca del sapere che è essere con, al di là di rare eccezioni, un sedicente “insegnamento” di natura sterilmente nozionistica e stupida­mente specialistica, da “dotti ignoranti”, come si esprime lo stesso Evola, vera caricatura mistificante di quanto l’uomo cerca sin dall’alba del suo spirito? Nulla, desolatamente nulla! Tale concetto moderno e quindi degradato di ciò che Aristotele afferma essere l’atteggiamento più naturale per l’uomo, cosa ha in comune con la definizione espressa dallo Hegel sull’essere la Fi­losofia “… la considerazione esoterica di Dio…”? (Enc. Scienze Fil.) e con il principio di Platone che il filosofo è solo colui il quale vede il Tutto, confermato dallo stesso Hegel quando insegna che “il Vero è l’Intero”?Assolutamente niente, ma le affermazioni hegeliane come quella di Platone hanno tutto in comune invece con quanto Evola enuncia in quella autentica e maestosa professione di fede platonica che è l’inizio di Rivolta contro il mondo moderno, quando edifica tutta la sua opera sul Sapere intorno alle due nature del Mondo, la naturale e la sovrannaturale, come medesime dimensioni e dello Spirito e della Phýsis, tanto che, platonicamente, in Evola la Fisica è Teologia in quanto il Mondo “è pieno di Dei!” E la Teologia in quanto Teosofia, Sapere intorno al Divino, è la stessa Logica che ha per oggetto il Nous come intelletto che è il Dio dormiente nell’uomo e quindi nel cosmo: l’intero Logos evoliano ha per fine, in guisa esclusiva, la rimozione attiva di quel “quindi” in quanto impedimento effettuale all’oscuramento dello Spirito; è, pertanto, opera di realizzazione del Sé, perseguita ed indicata come Via iniziatico-solare, di natura platonico­apollinea e non nientificazione orfico-dionisiaca dell’Io che, avendo la natura spirituale del pathèin e non del  mathéin (Aristotele, Perì philosophias, fr. 15), non è conoscenza dell’autentica essenza dello Spirito in quanto realtà Divina trascendentemente immanente che è come dire la realtà dell’Individuo Assoluto, vera sublimazione dell’Io; “…la filosofia ha lo scopo di riconoscere la verità, di conoscere Dio, poiché Dio è la verità assoluta…”, afferma Hegel nelle Lezioni sulla filosofia della religione; (vol. II).  Allora è d’uopo affermare, senza alcun timore, che sia in Evola che in Hegel, riappare, in piena modernità, il senso e il significato greco della Filosofia, stru­mento per il conseguimento del Risveglio, che è la rinascita, dopo la caduta-oblio, in quanto anàmnesi di ciò che si è e lo si è sempre stati pur  non avendone scienza (ignoranza come avidya), quindi riconquista di un Sa­pere che coincide con l’Essere in senso ontologico. Talché la Filosofia, nel suo vero ed unico significato, che è quello platonico-iniziatico (Lettera VII), nocciolo esoterico della stessa esperienza spirituale dei Misteri (Fedone, 69c-d), è quindi  Scienza Sacra in senso eminente e autentica Tradizione, avente ad “oggetto” solo ed esclusivamente il Divino, che è la Verità in quanto essenza e dell’uomo e del Mondo, come Cosmo; è pertanto Sapere per pochi, è gnosi, è Teosofia, conoscenza del Dio che si rivela, nella completezza del percorso rituale-filosofico, come theopoìesis (deificatio) (Platone, Teeteto, 176 b 1; Repubblica, 613 a b; Timeo, 90 d; Leggi, 716 c s; Plotino, Enneadi, I, 2, 6, 25; Proclo, Elementi di Teologia, 127; 112, 31; Corpus Hermeticum, I, 26; 16, 12), significando ciò il rammemo­rare la consapevolezza quale Sapere, aldilà ed oltre sia il Mito che il Simbolo (livelli di conoscenza sa­pientemente riconosciuti, sia da Evola che da Hegel, inefficaci ai fini della Scienza, in relazione allo stato intellettivo-noetico puro che è l’apolli­neo), che il Dio è “oggetto” da superare, da negare,  andando oltre il dualismo soggetto-oggetto per “osare” essere Lui! Tale identificazione, sia in Hegel che in Evola, è la stessa autoconoscenza del Sé quale Assoluto nella sua natura solare, in totale estraneità, pertanto, ad ogni confusione panteistica e ad ogni vedantino acosmismo spirituale. In tale guisa, pertanto, anche se mediante linguaggi diffe­renti e in contesti storico-culturali lontani, Evola ed Hegel dicono il Medesimo e la Filosofia, quindi, nella loro opera non è più quell’insulsa propaggine della teologia dogmatica (cristiana), né quella serva ti­mida delle cosiddette scienze moderne, cioè della concezione parziale, riduttiva e quindi irreale, in quanto galileiana, della natura, ormai desacraliz­zata e ridotta ad oggetto di calcolo matematico e ciò al di là della autentica rivoluzione epistemologica operata nel XX secolo dalla fisica dei quanti e dalla sua meccanica che, invece, ritornando ad una visione platonica del reale (vedi Heisenberg ed il suo concetto della chòra platonica…) non fa che confermare, tutto sommato, il sapere sia di Evola che di Hegel. La Filosofia torna così ad essere ciò che non può non essere, consistendo, secondo Aristotele, nel Destino che gli Dei hanno affidato all’uomo; non “fede”, non “credenza”, ma Sapere che è esposizione del Mondo in quanto Pensiero puro, sono “le idee di Dio prima della “creazione” del mondo e di ogni oggetto finito” (Hegel); è speculazione (da specu­lum) dove il Pensiero si specchia nel Mondo, in senso oggettivo e vede se stesso come Idea e quindi Unità (Hegel); è la realtà dell’Oro ermetico, che è la Cosa più vicina e nel contempo più lontana (Evola), è la certezza sen­sibile, è il concreto esistente che è da sempre Spirito, solo che non lo sa, (medesimo concetto esprime Plotino in riferimento all’esperienza del “toccare”  il Dio [Enneadi, VI, 9, 7]); l’Oro si trova infatti nella più oscura Tenebra o Feccia (Ermetismo) da cui l’uomo fugge, proprio perché non sa che l’Opera deve iniziare da quello stato come riconquista eroica che corporizza lo Spirito e spiritualizza il corpo, ed è la grande fatica del concetto (Hegel). Tutto ciò Evola lo rende manifesto nella sua opera  La Tradizione ermetica che è la summa circolare del viaggio iniziatico (dal Corpo come impietramento del principio Fuoco allo stesso Corpo però rinato come rosso Cinabro, solfuro di mercurio) simile alla circolarità triadica della Scienza della Logica di Hegel: il Logos qui non è una conoscenza astratta e quindi profana cioè falsa ma, come per gli antichi maestri neoplatonici, è l’apertura dell’occhio dello Spirito sul Mondo come è, e quindi come appare, ciò significando che  essenza ed esistenza sono il Medesimo che è l’Essere, nel “momento”, che non è temporale, ma logico cioè ontologico, in quanto riguarda la natura profonda dell’uomo, in cui lo stesso, acquisito il medesimo livello di essere-conoscenza, è nella capacità di vedere, attesa la natura epoptica della filosofia evoliana. La veneranda Tradizione Platonica, a cui appartengono sia Hegel che Evola, è il filone aureo che da Plotino, Proclo ed Eckhart sino a Nicola da Cusa, Giorgio Gemisto Pletone, Marsilio Ficino, Benedetto Spinoza e Jacob Boehme, non è altro che Introduzione alla Scienza dell’ Io, come spirito Universale, come Atto puro, proprio nel significato dell’autoctisi gentiliana che è poi il causa sui di Spinoza, che, nel Sapere Assoluto, che è filosofico, realizza il Sapere del Dio, dove quel “del” è tanto il Sapere che ha il Dio come “oggetto” che il Sapere che appartiene al Dio stesso.

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Il situarsi sia di Evola che di Hegel nella Tradizione Platonica, ci conduce in immediato nella evidenza relativa ad una fondamentale verità presente nel loro orizzonte sapienziale: la polare identità tra Pensiero ed Essere, intesi in senso cosmico e quindi oggettivo e non certo nel significato individuale e soggettivo che è come dire cartesiano e quindi moderno; identità che è da costruire, con fatica eroica, in quanto cammino catartico (Feno­menologia dello Spirito in Hegel; Rivolta contro il mondo moderno in Evola) per la riacquisita co­scienza che è poi Inizio dell’altro percorso, avente il Fine della identificazione plotiniana, che è il mònos pros mònon, come mutamento della propria natura (metànoia), principio noetico ormai desto, non più e non mai “esterno” all’Io ma Sé autentico che è al contempo (e da sempre) il Lògos del mondo (Tradizione Ermetica in Evola; Scienza della Logica in Hegel). Il Sapere (Nous) che coin­cide anzi è l’Essere (Phýsis) è ciò che, in guisa auro­rale, afferma la sapienza indoeuropea, ad iniziare da Parmenide e dai Veda (Atman è Brahman). Il Mi­stero di tale verità è l’Inesprimibile del Pensiero che si riconosce nel Tutto come i Molti che è visto nell’Istante- exàiphnes come Uno (Platone, Parmenide, 156, c) ed è il fondamento della conoscenza comune sia ad Evola che ad Hegel: ad uno stadio di consape­volezza, che è un “momento” (“temporale” ma che non si svolge nel tempo…) della coscienza e quindi un essere della stessa, in senso ontologico, corri­sponde uno stadio o livello di conoscenza-sapere che è il vivere-essere lo stadio o livello equiva­lente e corrispondente nel Mondo; tale processo spirituale in Evola è da situare in guisa manifesta dopo la catarsi dialettica che certamente coincide con la fase del suo pensiero preparatoria della teoresi dell’Idealismo magico che è il salto nella gnosi platonica. La realtà dello spirito che, come qui appare evidente, è circolare, e va dall’io al mondo e dal mondo all’io vuol significare che si conosce ciò che si è e si è ciò che si conosce e, quindi, si conosce ciò che si diviene, equivalendo ciò al ritorno anamnestico verso l’Inizio, dove si è sempre stati, nella natura in cui si è sempre consistiti ma della quale si è presa coscienza, solo dopo aver perfezionato l’Opera filosofica. Evola ed Hegel, nel solco del platonismo, ci inducono pertanto a meditare sulla dimensione dello Spirito, nel “momento” in cui il Pensiero, pensando il suo “passato” (l’Anima, il suo sonno…), si riconosce tale ed il Mondo, gli Dei (l’oggetto) appare quello che è sempre stato, cioè il Pen­sato, la dimensione dell’Anima, il movimento, la Vita, la dialettica (essere-non essere; vita-morte; dolore-gioia…). Evola lo afferma in tutta la sua opera: se si è forma, si vede la forma, che è sempre, ma anche colui che “ora” la vede lo è sempre stato solo che lo aveva dimenticato. Secondo Evola ed Hegel, ovviamente, non è questione di ideologie o di modi di vedere il mondo, cioè di stati soggettivi, poiché di soggettivo, nel senso di personale o individuale-psicologistico, qui non è dato parlare, ma di stati molteplici, differentemente gerarchici, dell’Essere (sia in senso microcosmico che macrocosmico, cioè quello che ignorantemente chiamiamo ancora tanto “soggetto” quanto “oggetto”)!

Hegel, infatti, nella Scienza della Logica, quando parla di meccanicismo, chimismo, organicismo, non sta enunciando determinate visioni del mondo o punti di vista, ma sta dicendo che una natura, in senso ontologico, meccanicistica conosce solo il meccanicismo o meglio il livello o “momento” meccanicistico del mondo e quindi sta trattando filosoficamente degli stati della coscienza, come li­velli del pensiero a cui corrispondono gli stessi stati della natura poiché questa è il medesimo Pensiero uscito da sè (proodòs plotiniana); essi sono pertanto il percorso del Sapere come Idea a cui corrispondono stati equivalenti della natura poiché la Verità cioè il Divino è l’Intero cioè l’Uno (e questo non è lo stesso principio di corrispondenza magica tra uomo e Metalli-Mondo cioè Astro-Nume-Metallo tanto in senso microcosmico quanto macrocosmico che è il fondamento della Tradizione sia nella forma Er­metica che in quella Platonica?). Evola dice il medesimo quando afferma che Inferno e Paradiso, esotericamente, sono stati della coscienza nei quali e attraverso i quali si conoscono le tenebre infernali o le luminosità celesti che sono livelli o dimensioni dell’Essere dello stesso mondo o dimensioni del Tutto, il chiuso Athanòr, che una natura corrispondente andrà a co­noscere o tenebroso come assenza di Luce o luminoso. Pertanto un essere che è, come spiritualità autentica, o il primo o il se­condo, può conoscere solo o uno o l’altro, cre­dendo, nel momento ingenuo (mitico, secondo Evola), intellettivo-astratto (direbbe Hegel), del percorso di conoscenza, che si tratti di un “altro” mondo a sé medesimo opposto e definito dualisticamente non-Io. Gli Dei non esistono a priori per fede… se non si cono­scono e si conoscono solo esperimentando e quindi essendo lo stato corrispondente. Se in Evola tutto ciò è definito identificazione iniziatico-­solare in cui è manifesto che Io sono Te, ricono­scendo pertanto l’irrealtà dello stato religioso-devozionale, in Hegel è il percorso dello Spirito che supera l’oggettivazione del Sé (Dio), come Altro e, con la semplificazione filosofica ed il suo Sapere apicale, è l’Assoluto che conosce se stesso, “accadendo” come evento logico, cioè fuori dal tempo, “dopo” lo stato-essere spirituale rappresentativo che è il religioso-dualistico. È la realizzazione della conoscenza che il soggetto è l’oggetto, il Pensiero come Atto puro cosmico è l’Essere che è il Dio, e si ritorna ad Aristotele, al Pensiero di Pensiero, al Pensiero che pensa Se stesso ed è poi l’Autarca di Evola! In sostanza ed in termini filosofici, cioè concettuali, è il Risveglio buddistico (vedi La dottrina del risveglio) che in Evola è la realizzazione della vera natura  dell’uomo, rendendo manifesta quella occulta o incosciente (Aristotele, Etica nicomachea, 1177b 33) idea di origine platonica (Timeo, 90c) che è l’athanatìzein di Proclo, cioè il rendersi immortali in quanto si assume piena consapevolezza e quindi Sapere di esserlo sempre stati. Corollario di tale Tradizione gnosica è, in Evola, La Scienza dell’Io che si riconosce, quale atto magico di anamnesi, come Idea eterna del Sé: “…Io alla seconda persona, alter ego celeste dell’uomo: è ancora l’uomo ma nello stesso tempo non è più solo l’uomo…” (Henry Corbin) ed è l’affermazione che la conoscenza del Dio è l’autoconoscenza del Dio come Divino nell’uomo e dell’uomo: il Dio si conosce e si vede nell’uomo, come l’uomo, nel doversi conoscere, conosce Se medesimo quale il Divino stesso. È il sapere di natura apollinea, di cui enigmaticamente parla Platone nell’Alcibiade Maggiore (133 c)…!

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In riferimento a tale Sapere Pavel Alexandrovic Florenski ne Le radici universali dell’Idealismo rileva la natura primordiale dello stesso e trae la conclusione che il Platonismo è la Conoscenza originaria presente nelle Tradizioni religiose e sapienziali di tutti i popoli del Mondo, cioè a dire, nella sue essenza metafisica, la Tradizione Unica di tutte le Civiltà, nella forma tanto mitico-religiosa nei primordi delle stesse, quanto magica ed unitivo-sapienziale al tramonto del ciclo.

Pertanto il Sapere, la Gnosi, di cui non solo parlano o scrivono sia Evola che Hegel, ma che sono e realizzano come mutamento della natura, essendo lo stesso Sapere, è in virtù di “qualcosa” di arcaico, di ancestrale, di originario, di non classificabile nelle e con le comuni categorie dello Spirito non solo di questo tempo ma di ogni tempo; “qualcosa” che è una realtà vivente, un fuoco che brucia nella continuità della loro vita, nel loro athanòr, come fiamma che consuma tutti i residui, le scorie, le impurità tanto che “magicamente” loro appaiono quello che sono in quanto Essere come identità di essenza ed esistenza; dai contemporanei sono infatti veduti come autentici maghi, nel significato arcaico e quindi vero del termine, chiarito, quasi nello stesso periodo di tempo, sia da Florenski che da Evola in questi termini: natura attiva dello Spirito nei confronti delle Forze e dei Numi cosmici e tanto intensa da apparire quasi naturale, come innata identificazione con gli stessi, mediante riconoscimento anamnestico!

Allora il Sapere tradizionale, che equivale a dire metafisico e che stiamo tentando di delineare per brevi cenni, è di natura magico-sacrale!

E non può essere diversamente, atteso il fatto che Evola non è lo scrittore, lo studioso o l’erudito, figlio di una sclerotica civilizzazione ma è frutto di una Kultur che, proprio nel senso spengleriano, è qualcosa di vivente che emerge maestosa e luminosa, vasta e complessa nella sua cosmica valenza, da tutta la sua opera che è principalmente ed in guisa essenziale, la sua stessa presenza e la sua vita come Simbolo e Mito. Non si può negare la presenza della Luce di questa forza magico-sacrale, quasi sciamanica, in uomini, in Sapienti Solfurei, autentiche trasparenze della doxa omerica, cioè della gloria del Pensiero, inteso in senso Vivente e Divino, in tutti coloro i quali, con linguaggi diversi ed in tempi storico-culturali oltremodo differenti,  hanno osato dire, vivere ed essere Verità, autenticamente rivoluzionarie e destabilizzanti per tutte le Chiese, i Dogmi e le Istituzioni dominanti, quasi come Vie della mano destra di ogni epoca, Verità che hanno sempre incusso paura, tremore e financo terrore nell’uomo, inducendo e provocando mistificazione del loro Dire, calunnie sul loro Fare, negazione del loro Essere e tentativi, peraltro vani, di oscuramento della Verità da loro eroicamente difesa. È la vicenda, non solo di un Evola, criminalizzato e mistificato o di un Hegel, incompreso e pertanto trasferito tout court, nonostante la geniale intuizione di un Feuerbach sull’essere il sapiente Svevo “…il Proclo tedesco…”, nel positivismo e nel laicismo immanentista o nel soggettivismo postcartesiano, ma è la storia umana anche di Eckhart, di Giorgio Gemisto Pletone, di Boehme, di Spinoza, cioè è il destino comune, la risposta, la reazione di chi, in buona sostanza, rifiuta, ne ha paura e non comprende insegnamenti come questi di Plotino: “…Il compito non è essere virtuosi o buoni ma essere Dei!…”; “…Non devo andare io agli Dei ma gli Dei venire a me…!”; che equivalgono a ciò che dice Eckhart nei Sermoni: “…Dio ed io siamo una cosa sola…!”; a quanto afferma Hegel: “…Si crede usualmente che l’Assoluto debba trovarsi molto al di là mentre è invece proprio ciò che è del tutto presente e che, in quanto pensanti, anche senza averne espressamente coscienza, portiamo sempre con noi…!” o a ciò che rivela Boehme nel De Signatura rerum: “…tra la Nascita Eterna, la Redenzione dalla Caduta e la scoperta della Pietra dei Filosofi non c’è alcuna differenza…!”.

Si tratta, quindi, di un Sapere primordiale, è la Tradizione iniziatica regale, è la originaria via indoeuropea agli Dei, nel senso spirituale e realizzativo del Risveglio del Re che dorme nel profondo dell’anima, ed è, innanzitutto ed essenzialmente il Rito filosofico quotidiano e costante onde realizzare il Katèchon che, difendendo il principio superiore della coscienza e quello animico ad esso orientato, costituisca invalicabili barriere nei confronti delle potenze tenebrose provenienti dal basso; al fine di “ricostruire” eroicamente la natura autentica dell’uomo: la libertà dello Spirito, nella divinificazione che è l’Eghemonicòn stoico, di cui parla Evola, la liberazione dell’uomo dalle catene invisibili con cui egli stesso si è reso prigioniero di sé medesimo! Tale Conoscenza suprema che è di una semplicità fanciullesca (gli antichi Ermetisti parlano di “gioco di bambini”) mai come nella fase presente, di palese e drammatica decadenza spirituale da fine di un ciclo di civiltà, come rivela Aristotele (Metafisica, XII, 8,1074a, 38-b 14), è di straordinaria ed inattuale attualità, poiché, essendo la Conoscenza della maturità avanzata di un epoca, proprio come precisa Aristotele nel passo su citato, è l’ultima àncora di salvezza sia per coloro che vogliono percorrere tale unica ed ineludibile Via dello Spirito, per tornare ad essere, come precisa Evola, quanto meno e come base di partenza, uomini, sia per la conservazione e la trasmissione dei Fondamenti della stessa da “tràdere” cioè consegnare a coloro i quali saranno i protagonisti del ciclo successivo: non altro concetto ha, infatti, espresso lo stesso Hegel quando ha definito la filosofia il Sapere del meriggio che nasce quando s’invola la nottola di Minerva!

Ci chiediamo, alla fine di questa nostra riflessione, la ragione per cui la Tradizione magico-arcaica, la Sapienza antica, il Platonismo come eterno Idealismo, il Logos di Evola come quello di tutti i Sapienti che nei secoli e nei millenni hanno rivelato sempre e soltanto la medesima Cosa, avente ad “oggetto” il Pensiero pensante che è già e da sempre Pensiero pensato e cioè il Divino come Mondo che ritorna ciclicamente e liberamente, in quanto sapientemente, in se stesso, appaiono tanto irrimediabilmente inattuali da essere invece così indiscutibilmente attuali; la risposta a tale domanda risiede nella natura protervamente materialista e quindi antiumana di questa epoca in cui dello Spirito nulla si sa e si deve sapere, dell’Anima non se ne deve parlare  più, affidando il suo semantema residuo ed umbratile a forme di stregonerie e ciarlatanerie definitesi, molto appropriatamente, “psicoanalisi” (vedi J. Evola, L’infezione psicanalista, Quaderni della Fondazione Evola, Napoli 2012); il corpo  è ignorato in quanto “pensato” come un assemblaggio di pezzi meccanici da riparare e, nel caso, da sostituire; epoca in cui, infine, ci si è fatti convincere che l’uomo non sia e non debba essere altro che un “tubo digerente” avente solo una finalità: il disciplinato e silenzioso consumo planetario, in quanto “naturalmente”  privo di idee, sentimenti e passioni,  che pericolosamente abbiano o conservino qualcosa che ricordi l’umano; nessun Discorso, religioso o filosofico contemporaneo, che può pur apparire radicale e liberatorio lo può mai essere, in verità e nella dimensione universale, così come lo è manifestamente e dall’eternità la Luce della Tradizione, per la semplice ragione che tutti i “discorsi” che non appartengono alla sua Verità, appartengono alla Modernità, come categoria dello Spirito; e non si può nemmeno tentare di superare l’effetto coniugandolo con la sua causa!

Solo la Scienza dello Spirito, l’atto supremo ineludibile di Rivolta contro il mondo moderno, può aprire gli occhi,  prima dell’anima e poi dello Spirito, dell’uomo della presente età, sì da fargli riacquistare la stazione eretta che, come insegna Platone, gli consente di guardare il Cielo e quindi gli Dei!

Di una sola cosa, comunque, siamo certi e serenamente consapevoli e quindi convinti: il potere unico della Chiesa dogmatica tecno-finanziaria del capitalismo mondialista, apparentemente trionfante al crepuscolo del presente ciclo, ha di fronte, alle spalle ed intorno a sé medesimo, una sola ed invincibile nonché semplice e luminosa Verità, espressa da Julius Evola nei termini seguenti: “…Tutto si potrà fare sull’uomo e nell’uomo ma mai strappare dal fondo del suo animo la presenza del Divino!…”.

Giandomenico Casalino

 

BIBLIOGRAFIA ESSENZIALE

Albanese L., La tradizione platonica, Roma 1993.

Albert K., Sul concetto di filosofia in Platone, Mi­lano 1991.

Beierwaltes W., Platonismo e idealismo, Bologna 1987.

Boutroux E., Jacob Boehme e l’origine dell’idea­lismo tedesco, Milano 2006.

Casalino G., La prospettiva di Hegel, Lecce 2005.

Casalino G., L’origine. Contributi per la filosofia della spiritualità

indoeuropea,Genova 2009.

Casalino G., La conoscenza suprema. Essere la concretezza luminosa

dell’Idea, Genova 2012.

Casalino G., Sul fondamento. Pensare l’Assoluto come Risultato, Genova 2014.

Carbonara C., Hegel platonico e teologo. Quaderni contemporanei, 6, 1971.

Di Vona P., Metafisica e politica in Evola, Padova 2000, pp. 55 ss.

Evola J., (a cura di), Introduzione alla Magia, Roma 1969, volume I, pp. 56 ss.; 364 ss.

Evola J., La tradizione ermetica, Roma 1998.

Hadot P., Esercizi spirituali e filosofia antica, To­rino 1988.

Hegel G.G.F., Scienza della Logica, Bari 2001.

Hegel G.G.F., Fenomenologia dello spirito, Firenze 1960.

Heidegger M., “Hegel e i greci” in Idem, Segna­via, Milano 1987.

Kramer H., Platone e ifondamenti della metafisica, Milano 1989, pp. 285 ss.

Lugarini L., Hegel e la tradizione arcaica, Il Pen­siero, voI. XXXII, 1992.

Magee G.A., Hegel e la Tradizione Ermetica, Roma 2013.

Plotino, Enneadi, VI, 9,40.

Platone, Lettera VII

Platone, Alcibiade Maggiore.

Ponsetto A., L’anima religiosa della filosofia, Lecce 2000.

Proclo, Teologia Platonica.

Ruggenini M., Il Dio assente. La filosofia è l’espe­rienza del Divino, Milano 1997.

 

The Differentiated Man

The Differentiated Man

Ex: http://aryan-myth-and-metahistory.blogspot.com

In the days when I used to post on white nationalist websites one of the most recurring themes that people would argue about is the declining levels of Aryans vis a vis other races. I argued then as I argue now ratios are not relevant. Lower animals and races of men will breed at a faster rate than higher species or races. Often the reason for this is the higher mortality rate in such species and races. This fact may also be observed amongst the soci-economic classes which are a bastardised and commercialised version of the ancient traditional Aryan caste system (the two are not to be confused or even compared!).  Individuals of lesser education (not merely formal education but general awareness and ability) tend to breed without restraint and with no consideration as to whether they (or the tax payer) can afford such indiscriminate coupling!

Of course I am not here referring to that tiny and select minority of individuals who are spiritually and racially aware who may breed in large numbers with suitable mates for the right reasons. The people I am referring to in the previous paragraph are those who live entirely by instinct and whose days are spent gratifying their every bodily need or desire. Such people are little better than the beasts of the field and I would not expect them to read blogs such as this so forgive me for lecturing to the converted! These belong to von Liebenfels' Affenmenschen (apelings) referred to in his Theozoology. The move from the rural economies of the past to the Industrial Revolution which began in the 18th century in England caused a migration of part of the rural population to the emerging industrial towns and cities to become nothing more than factory wage slaves. The new capitalist bougeoisie needed as many men (and women) as they could find to work in their sweat shops. The same impulse that drove forward the Industrial Revolution was also responsible for the creation of the British Empire which benefitted no one apart from the wealthy (and certainly not the conquered natives!).

The populations of the industrial towns and cities bred like rats but they needed to as the infant mortality rate was extremely high. Their poorly paid labour was needed by the capitalists of the day (nothing much has changed). The problem with having an expanding proletariat is that the individual monetary worth of the worker is reduced proportionately. This is why countries like Britain welcome immigrant labour because their expectations are low and this creates economic competition for British workers. Employers can pick and choose and pay a pittance for a person's toil. For this reason despite the government's protestations they have done abolutely nothing to stem the flow of immigration (legal and otherwise) and indeed the problem has got worse over the last 4 years (if such a thing were possible). Low paid workers and cannon fodder for illegal wars will always be in demand by this corrupt system.

Thus a capitalist economy relies for the production of ever increasing wealth for the 1% on a large mass of labour. Capitalism encourages and fuels population explosions. Babies are born destined to become unimportant cogs in this monstrous and inhuman machine. This and only this is the value of the 'family', much lauded by the government's MPs as women become nothing but battery hens for future workers. Nothing else is of importance. With these thoughts in mind we come to the writings of Julius Evola:

"The differentiated man cannot feel part of a 'society' like the present one, which is formless and has sunk to the level of purely material, economic, 'physical' values, and moreover lives at this level and follows its insane course under the sign of the absurd. Therefore, apoliteia requires the most decided resistance to any social myth. Here it is not just a matter of its extreme, openly collectivist forms, in which the person is not recognised as significant except as a fragment of a class or party or, as in the Marxist-Soviet area, is denied any existence of his own outside the society, so that personal destiny and happiness distinct from those of the collective do not even exist. We must equally reject the more general and bland idea of 'sociability' that today often functions as a slogan even in the so-called free world, after the decline of the ideal of the true state. The differentiated man feels absolutely outside of society, he recognises no moral claim that requires his inclusion in an absurd system; he can understand not only those who are outside, but even those who are against 'society'-meaning against this society." (Ride the Tiger. A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul)

The End of American History

The End of American History

By Alexander Jacob

Lecture delivered at the IV Encontro Internacional Evoliano, Sao Paulo, Brazil, September 10, 2014.

Francis Fukuyuma, the Japanese-American intellectual spokesman for the Jewish American Neoconservative movement, proclaimed in his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man that liberal democracy was the final socio-political form since earlier alternatives such as Fascism and Communism had proven to be ideological failures, and liberty and equality had now been established as universal norms. 

Fukuyama’s view of history moving in progressive political phases was of course first popularized in the nineteenth century by German thinkers like Hegel, Marx, and their followers, who sought to discern historiographical patterns in the vagaries of military and economic fortune and to either celebrate or revolt against the current political status of their own nation, in their case Germany.

To be sure, Hegel was somewhat more elevated than Marx in supposing the course of history to be the varying manifestations of a developing Weltgeist, or world-spirit, whereas Marx’s historiography was ruled by mere economic alterations. Nevertheless, the falsehood of even Hegel’s philosophy of history is made clear to anyone who considers the history of the country which is actually promoting liberal democracy now as a universal norm, America.

In America there has been, from its inception as an independent nation, hardly any deviation from liberal democratic goals, and Communism and Fascism have not only been absent there in their European forms but are, if ever they emerge, quickly absorbed into the unchanging liberal democratic framework of the nation. Actually what American society represents is a sort of ahistoric, shadow-communist utopia, where private individuals strive ever more strenuously to possess the means of production and to resist the interference of the state in public affairs. There is little also to distinguish the Communist ideal of equality from the Liberal.

When Fukuyama suggests that we have come to the “end of history,” therefore, what he means is that the world that has undergone genuine historical changes has now been conquered by a country that began and continues as a utopia that is as little capable of historical change as of real progress, that is, progress understood not in the technological but in the traditional sense of the development of the spiritual, intellectual and social attitudes of a people.

The “end of history” is indeed a phenomenon that is peculiar to America as a British colony that has had tenuous connections with the naturally developing history of the Old World. While most countries founded by colonial settlement manage to maintain and develop the culture of their mother nation to a certain extent — as Australia, for example, has done — America began and developed at a time of Protestant and Puritan revolt against the ancient Catholic monarchical traditions of Britain.

It is important therefore to consider the phenomenon of Puritanism which provoked the English Civil War during which America was settled and to notice also the close connection between Christian Puritanism and Judaism. We may recall in this context that the Jews, who had been officially expelled from England in 1290 by Edward I, were allowed by the Puritan dictator Cromwell in the 1650s to return from Holland, where they had been conducting a flourishing financial business, and throughout the Commonwealth the Jews were held in high esteem by the Puritans.

The similarity of the capitalist ethics developed by the Puritans and that of the Jews was noted already in 1911 by the German sociologist Werner Sombart in his work Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben. Sombart maintained that the “Protestant” ethic that Max Weber had focused on in his 1905 work, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus, was indeed to be identified specifically as a Puritan one that should be equated to Judaism. For, as Sombart explained, “In both will be found . . . the close relationship between religion and business, the arithmetical conception of sin, and, above all, the rationalization of life.”

With the American Civil War of 1861-65, the last links with monarchical England that had persisted in the pro-English Confederate South were cut by the victory of the Federalist North. Then, in the aftermath of the Civil War, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Christian religious aspect of the original Puritan work-ethic of the Americans was seriously damaged by the large-scale influx of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe who succeeded in modulating the philo-Semitic Puritan character of American capitalism into a fully Jewish one.

As Sombart pointed out, the Jews had indeed been active in American economic life already from the seventeenth century and had gradually come to monopolize many branches of American commerce such as the wheat, tobacco, and cotton trade. But we must note that with the increased immigration of eastern Jews at the end of the nineteenth century and the promotion of Jewish finance capitalism, what remained of the original Puritan work-ethic and concomitant frugality in the American economy was soon dissipated, while the only vestige of the dissident Puritanical religiosity that survived was its stubborn anti-clericalism.

With the replacement of the Puritan veneration of industry by the parasitical reign of finance, the Jewish tendency to economic utopianism which manifested itself in the twentieth century as totalitarian Communism in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Far East was transformed in the new “promised land” of the Jews into the totalitarian liberalism of the “American Dream.” The capitalism promoted by the Jews steadily strengthened the nation’s commitment to individualistic freedom and material aggrandizement rather than to the civilizational aims of the old monarchies and empires. Such a nation could naturally not evolve or even acquire a human history. Instead of producing examples of human greatness it could only boast of a certain number of tycoons and millionaire entertainers, and instead of historical development it could only experience periodic economic booms and recessions.

Fukuyama himself attempts, in his book, to introduce a Nietzschean question into his glorification of liberal democracy by raising the specter of the “last man,” or the average American-like man whose life is materially sated and spiritually meaningless. But with naïve optimism he maintains that such an intolerably vacuous life will certainly be mastered in a liberal democracy by man’s spiritedness, a human characteristic that will inevitably rebel against such a monotonous existence. This spiritedness is the same as what Plato called the middle part of the tripartite soul, between the rational and the animal parts of it. In Fukuyama’s view, in the liberal democratic system, instead of its reappearance in violent strife, as in the case of nationalist or imperialistic states, there will be an absorption of this passionate energy into sports, business and political shows like election campaigns.

Fukuyama’s belief in such social engineering as liberal democracy universally aims at ignores the vast difference between the states of the Old World and the American. Indeed, the Neoconservative enterprise propagated by Fukuyama serves as a timely reminder of the incompatibility of American with genuinely European systems of political thought. The American social values that are being imposed on Europe and the rest of the world through economic and military means are essentially alien ones and are neither likely to take root easily nor endure. For, unlike the American nation, European and other older nations have a historical vitality that cannot be suffocated by American avarice. In order to illustrate this fact I shall survey here the characteristic political traditions of the Indo-Europeans and the contradictory intellectual movements that have distorted these traditions in the course of modern history.

To understand the traditional Indo-European social ethos, I may begin with the paradigmatic Āryan conception of society discernible in ancient India. The famous ‘caste system’ of the Indians is, unlike the modern western ‘class system’, an entirely spiritual one and men are recognized not by their economic status but by their hereditary spiritual capacity. The four Indian social orders are represented symbolically as the head, arms, thighs and feet of the primordial cosmic anthropomorphic form of the divine Soul. This Cosmic Man, or Purusha, was itself formed, first ideally and then manifestly, through the spiritual desire, the Soul, of the godhead, or the One.

The manifestation of the Soul in Indian religious philosophy is said to be due to its three inherent forms of energy, sattva, rajas and tamas, the first  representing pure existence, the second  motion and the third inertia (Brahmānda Purāna I,i,3,12). Since there is an intimate and unavoidable correspondence between the macrocosm and the human microcosm, these three energies appear embodied in differing degrees among humans too, the sattvic element most fully in the brāhmans, the rājasic in the warriors or kshatriyas,  and the tāmasic in the vaisyas and shudras, particularly the latter. This is the original spiritual and psychological basis of all hierarchy. The brāhman owes his preeminent position in society to his superhuman spiritual power. The name “Brahman” of the deity who represents the Intellectual light of the cosmos, itself derives from a word denoting creative power and it is the privilege and duty of the brāhman to represent this creative power while the kshatriyas, or political rulers and warriors, only serve to maintain this creative power both within the land and also in the universe. The brāhman and kshatriya thus constitute the paradigmatic Indo-European polity centered on the dual organs of what in European politics are called Church and State.

If we turn to the Greek philosophers, we find that in Plato and Aristotle the state is again constantly conceived of in terms of the constitution of the universal and individual soul. According to Plato, the soul is “that which moves itself” (Phaedrus 246a) and is naturally prior to body since it “is what governs all the changes and modifications of bodies” (Laws 892a).

Just as in ancient India, the soul, or psyche, in Plato’s Republic, Bk.IV, is divided into three parts, a higher rational or spiritual part (called logistikon) corresponding to the Indian sattva, a middle passionate one (called thymoeides) correspondng to rajas, and a lower sensual part (called epithymetikon) corresponding to tamas. Since society is as organic a phenomenon as the individuals of which it is composed, in a state too the more the rational aspect predominates over the passionate the closer it approximates to the ideal political form. But the discipline of the lower desires by the dictates of reason is to be found only in a few and these are the “best born and the best educated” men (Republic, IV), whereas the untrained and untamed passions are to be found in abundance among children, women and the lower classes, which form the most numerous section of society. The aristocratic “guardians” of Plato’s ideal republic are therefore required to be true philosophers and will not be drawn from the inferior classes.

Aristotle continues Plato’s spiritually oriented political theory in his Ethica Nichomachea, where he declares that the main aim of politics is the attainment of the good of the nation. The higher classes of a nation will comprise the full citizens who will assume the military and administrative, including priestly, offices of the land. The legislators must govern with a clear knowledge of the spiritual constitution of man, that is, the rational and passionate elements that Plato had discerned in the individual soul. And it is the duty of the legislators to ensure the predominance of the higher aspect of the soul over the lower.

Platonic principles reappear in the European Renaissance in the writings of aristocratic thinkers like Francesco Guicciardini and Jean Bodin. According to Guicciardini — who offered a critique of Machiavelli in one of his works, Considerations on the Discourses of Machiavelli – the chief reason of the superiority of a prince and an aristocracy to the people is that they are not subject to pernicious passions, such as, notably, envy. The French Renaissance philosopher, Jean Bodin — who is notable for his championing of monarchical absolutism — also based his defence of the latter on a similar Platonic basis. For genuine monarchy is, according to him, derived from the Divine Law and the monarch is the earthly image of God. Care should be taken that the religious foundation of the state is never brought into doubt and religious leaders must act as censors of the state in order to maintain moral discipline in it.

It is at this juncture in the history of the world that the revolutionary anti-monarchical ideas of the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the French Revolution appear. If we study the American Bill of Rights of 1789 we realise that it was based largely on the English Bill of Rights of 1689 promulgated by the (originally Puritan) English Parliament after the “Glorious” Protestant Revolution of 1688 in order to curb the powers traditionally invested in the formerly Catholic monarchs of England.

One of the most influential English thinkers of the seventeenth century and one generally considered to be the father of liberal democracy, John Locke, was also a Puritan. Locke was a champion of the separation of the Church and State and had a profound influence on the American ‘Founding Fathers’ such as Thomas Jefferson. The American Bill of Rights, based on the British parliamentarian one, is especially notable for its dissociation (in the First Amendment) of the American state from any official religion. What had begun in England as a rejection of Catholicism was thus turned in America into a rejection of all official religion. Combined with this fear of theocracy was the Puritanical devotion to individual freedom and industry which caused the Americans to view citizenship as a status defined primarily by liberty and citizens as economic units of production not unlike those of the later Communist utopia of Marx.

A little later, in the middle of the eighteenth century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau propagated in France the Lockean conception of government as a social “contract” directed  by the “volonté générale” of the people which would reduce the inequalities springing from subservience to the state. However, a robust answer to Rousseau’s doctrine of the “social contract” was offered immediately after the fateful French Revolution by the English political philosopher Edmund Burke in his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), where he pointed out that “the state ought not to be considered as nothing better than a partnership agreement in a trade of pepper and coffee, calico or tobacco, or some such low concern . . .”

And since the people cannot be relied upon to follow any “general will” towards the attainment of the good of the nation, Burke proposed a natural aristocracy as the only viable government of a nation. A strong nation is also necessarily a religious one for, as Burke said, all politicians indeed act on behalf of “the one great Master, Author and Founder of society,” namely God.

This vital role of religion in the conduct of states was reiterated in post-revolutionary France too by the French monarchist Count Joseph de Maistre who noted in his “Essai sur les principes generateurs des constitutions politiques et des autres institutions humaines” (1809) that “the duration of empires has always been proportionate to the degree of influence the religious element gained in the political constitution.” Indeed, the truly political laws of a land are synonymous with the religious feelings of the people and the “instant [man] separates himself from God to act alone . . . he does not lose power . . . but his activity is negative and leads only to destruction.” To follow the doctrines of Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau and Voltaire would thus result in a return to a state of anarchy and degeneracy.

In Germany around the same time philosophers like Kant and Fichte were beginning to point to the crucial significance of the ‘State’ as the means of enforcing an enlightened government. Kant took as his point of departure the excellence of Divine Law in relation to Natural Law, so that Reason, or the Moral Law, was elevated far above the mindless workings of Nature. To establish this rule of the Moral Law on earth, Kant proposed a supremely powerful state that would control all religious and commercial offices in the land.

The leader of the state can never be a democratic representative of the people since democracy inevitably results in a despotism. While Kant favored a monarchical republic, Johann Fichte advocated a Platonic philosopher-statesman who is at once a political and religious leader of his nation. Like a Platonic “guardian,” such a statesman, “in his estimate of mankind looks beyond that which they are in the actual world to that which they are in the Divine Idea . . .” (The Nature of the Scholar, Lecture VIII). The monarch will bear the responsibility of the realization of the inner freedom of the individuals within his nation. It is important to note in this context Fichte’s emphasis that the aim of all society is “ever-increasing ennoblement of the human race, that is, to set it more and more at liberty from the bondage of Nature,” just as the aim of all culture is “to subject Nature . . . to Reason.” In order to counteract the spurious freedom that especially the young hanker after, Fichte insists that a new system of education must be developed which “essentially destroys the freedom of will . . . and produces on the contrary strict necessity in the decisions of the will” (Addresses to the German Nation, Address II).

The state continues to be glorified in the Idealistic philosophy of Hegel, for whom the state, and especially the Prussian state, is the “embodiment of rational freedom realizing and recognizing itself in an objective form” (Lectures on the Philosophy of History). And in the Prussian nationalism of Heinrich von Treitschke, the state is glorified to an extent that it becomes a sort of substitute for God. Treitschke takes care to stress that “the consciousness of national unity is dependent on a common bond of religion, for religious sentiment is one of the fundamental forces of the human character.” (Politics, I) Unfortunately the interference of Jewish elements in German politics had disturbed the traditional spiritual ordering of society by encouraging “the coexistence of several religions within one nationality, involving an irreconcilable and ultimately intolerable difference of outlook upon life.”

Directly opposed to these several statist doctrines of the German Idealists and nationalists is the doctrine of Communism which was propounded in the middle of the nineteenth century by the Jewish political economist Karl Marx. The radical difference between the Marxist view of the world and the Indo-European is already evident in the fact that Marx’s system was based on an atheistic materialism that totally denied the existence of any spiritual reality whatsoever, and all metaphysics in general, in favour of a dialectical socio-economics that attempted to understand the transformations of society according to its changing modes of production. Unlike Hegel who had justified history as the changing manifestations of a quasi-divine world-spirit, Marx wished to ‘create’ history by focusing on what he considered its essential economic activities. As he put it in The German Ideology (Ch.1):

Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness . . . have no history, no development; but men, developing their material production and their material intercourse, alter, along with their real existence, their thinking and the products of their thinking.

However, the Communist system, for all its apparent evolutionary aspirations, is an anti-scientific, utopian construct aiming at an anti-human classless and stateless society based on the common ownership of the means of production. In this delusional sociological experiment Marx focused especially on class-struggle, or the conflict between capital and labor, as the primary instrument of historical change. By granting economic, social and political equality to all citizens Marx believed that the social awareness and discipline of every individual would naturally be increased. And, while he tolerated a representative parliamentary political system as a transitional stage, his Communist utopia aimed at a final dissolution of the state apparatus (which is what induces hierarchy and inequality) at the most advanced state of Communism, when the people would become fully self-governing.

Marxism is thus the fullest expression of a world-view that is diametrically opposed to the traditional Indo-European ordering of society according to spiritual character which we have observed in ancient India, Greece and the rest of Europe until the advent of philo-Judaic Puritanism in the middle of the seventeenth century. Marxism is naturally also opposed to the state structure that supports the religious and warrior aristocracy that founded, constitute and preserve the nation. It may be noted here that although modern liberal democracies pretend to abhor the Communist ideology, the arrogation of political authority in the West by the legislature and its prime ministerial or presidential leader represents a major step towards the same dissolution of the concepts of state and sovereignty that Communism too strives for.

Marx’s political economic theories were strongly criticized at the turn of the century by many notable German thinkers like Eugen Dühring and Oswald Spengler, but I should like to highlight here one of the most metaphysically structured political philosophical responses to Marxism – namely, the system of the Italian Fascist philosopher, Giovanni Gentile. According to Gentile, the basis of evil, exactly as in Plato and Plotinus, is Matter, or Nature, which is opposed to Spirit and represents as it were, “not merely moral and absolute nullity [but] the impenetrable chaos of brute nature, mechanism, spiritual darkness, falsehood and evil, all the things that man is forever fighting against” (Genesis and Structure of Society).

Gentile points out that the economic life focused on by Marx is marked by a utilitarianism akin to the instinctual life of animals and is a life of slavery to matter, whereas politics should be a means to spiritual freedom. While Marxism aimed at the worst sort of social organization, “the utilitarian, materialistic and hence egoistic conception of life understood as a realm of rights to be vindicated, instead of as an arena of duties to be performed by sacrificing oneself to an ideal,” Gentile’s own ideal of Fascism is based on a metaphysical understanding of society as emerging from a Kantian ideal of a “transcendent society” which is produced by the interaction of the ego and its pure object, the alter ego. It is this conception of a ‘transcendent society’ which makes man a ‘political animal’, as Aristotle had earlier suggested. The gradual self-realization of an individual necessarily entails the enlightenment of his objective counterparts, the other members of society, so that the nation as a whole begins to approach the ideal “transcendent society.”

Indeed, for Gentile, as for Fichte, the proper intellectual activity of the enlightened individual is the comprehension of the whole of mankind or of the Idea of it. And the ‘State’ is the objective embodiment of the personality of the individuals constituting it or the “universal common aspect” of their will. True political liberty is therefore possible only when the individuals that constitute the state become free through the realization of the universal aspect of their personality.

The State in its universal aspect is indeed an image of the Divine Will and the laws of the State must ever be in consonance with the Divine Law. Religion naturally is not an external aid to the will of the state but the constitutive element of it. The prime task of the state is to foster the dual development of individuals and of the society. Gentile’s project of state education is therefore governed by a keen awareness of the essentially moral nature of all education. Those concerned with culture as the self-development of the individuals constituting a state must, he says, be “critical of all knowledge that man does not need for the actual realization of his human nature and for the growth and health of his moral character” (Genesis and Structure of Society). In short, they must be critical of all knowledge that is not genuinely human.

Gentile interestingly also distinguishes between two kinds of treatment of political history. True history is not that which observes the “brute fact” but rather “the inward act of the spirit” always considered from the point of view of the “transcendent state,” the “higher ideal that operates as an end in the actual life of the state” (Ibid.). This transcendent state is indeed the divine model of an earthly state and therefore a constant unchanging norm to which the temporal changes of a state approximate in varying degrees throughout its history.

In this Fascist view of history and of the philosophical significance of the state we finally obtain a corrective to the historiographical errors of Hegelians like Fukuyama who raise the political status quo to an ideal after superficially surveying the external changes of a state as also to the errors of the Marxists who conjure up utopias from these same changes. All of these thinkers ignore the transcendent or divine aspect of statecraft, which, as we have observed in our initial survey of ancient Indian and Greek philosophy, starts with the constitution of the psyche or soul itself and aims, through a sacred kingship or an enlightened autocracy, at the psychological improvement of the individuals that comprise the state. Materialistic societies governed by economically oriented political doctrines, whether Puritan or Marxist, are incapable of any real historical development because the spiritual element of man which alone is capable of movement and development is either poorly understood or wholly dismissed.

Fukuyama’s historiographic thesis is thus merely a description of the abortive state of America itself, which has through its history gradually substituted materialistic and economic principles of statecraft for the spiritual ones that originally governed all European monarchies, including the British. In considering this American problem, we cannot afford to ignore the fateful role that Jewry have played in the history of the West, for the re-entry of the Jews into England during the Puritan revolution is linked, psychologically, to the capitalist career of the new American state just as the Jewish economic utopia of Karl Marx lurks behind the liberal democratic dreams of contemporary Americans. Indeed, all modern political theories that aim at a dissolution of the state or of the leading religious institution of a nation — whether these theories are called Libertarian or Anarchist — must be recognized as derivatives of the defective Jewish economic mentality.

This mentality can, and should, be fully replaced by genuinely Indo-European political doctrines that begin not with contractual promises to the masses of liberty and equality and plenty but rather with the obligations of the leaders of a nation and of the State to actually improve the human psychological condition, or culture, of these masses. Both the State and its leading religious institution — in the case of the West, the Church — must therefore be strengthened in their national role and their alliance must be consolidated. This will naturally entail the exclusion of all anti-statist and anti-clerical elements from national government and education. The philosophical guidelines for the urgently required regeneration of nations are clearly available in the long tradition of European conservative philosophy that I have pointed to and particularly in the most recent example of Gentile. Of course, I am aware that Monarchism, Fascism and the Church are all equally abhorrent to those who today follow Judaized America in its various utopian adventures, but it is well to bear in mind that the price of utopianism is the end of history.

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Henry Corbin: Eurasia como concepto espiritual

Henry Corbin: Eurasia como concepto espiritual

Ex: http://culturatransversal.wordpress.com 

Por Claudio Mutti*

Desde Irlanda a Japón

“Subrayar y enfatizar las conexiones, las líneas de fuerza en las que se sustenta la trama del concepto espiritual de Eurasia, desde Irlanda a Japón” (1): a esta preocupación de P. Masson Oursel, que se inspira en un programa esbozado en 1923 en la Philosophie comparée y proseguido en 1948 en La Philosophie en Orient (2), Henry Corbin (1903-1978) le atribuye un “valor especial” (3). Trascendiendo el nivel de las determinaciones geográficas e históricas, el concepto de Eurasia viene a constituir “la metáfora de la unidad espiritual y cultural que recompondrá al final de la era cristiana en vista de la superación de los resultados de ésta” (4). Estas son, al menos, las conclusiones de un estudioso que en la obra corbiniana ha descubierto las indicaciones idóneas para fundar: “aquella gran operación de hermenéutica espiritual comparada, que es la búsqueda de una filosofía – o mejor dicho: de una sabiduría – eurasiática” (5). En otras palabras, la misma categoría geofísica de “Eurasia” no es más que la proyección de una realidad geosófica vinculada a la  Unidad originaria, puesto que “Eurasia” es, en la percepción interior, en el paisaje del alma o Xvarnah (“Luz de Gloria”, en el léxico mazdeo), la Cognitio Angelorum, la operación  autológica del Anthropos Téleios, o incluso, por último, la unidad entre el Lumen Naturae y la Lumen Gloriae.   De aquí la posibilidad de acercar a Eurasia con el conocimiento imaginal de la Tierra como un Ángel” (6).

Es el mismo Henry Corbin quien evoca la experiencia visionaria del filósofo alemán Gustav Theodor Fechner, que identificó con la figura de un Ángel el rostro de la tierra envuelta de luz gloriosa, y para citar el pasaje concordante de un ritual avéstico: “Celebramos esta liturgia en honor de la Tierra, que es un ángel ” (7). De hecho, según la doctrina mazdeísta, a la Tierra se la percibe en la “persona” de su Ángel, cuando el alma, proyectando la imagen de sí misma, crea una Imago Terrae que la refleja. La angelología mazdeísta traduce el misterio de esta proyección de la siguiente manera: Spenta Armaiti, Arcángel femenino de la existencia terrenal, es la madre de Daena, el Ángel femenino que sustancia a la Alma caelestis,  el Cuerpo de Resurrección.  De esta manera, “la formulación misma de la categoría geofísica de “Eurasia” pertenece al proceso de palingenesia, que es la Resurrección a la luz de la Transfiguración ” (8).

La geosofía mazdeísta, íntimamente vinculada con la esencial característica sofiánica de Spenta Armaiti , se refiere principalmente a una Tierra celeste; aplicada al espacio terrestre, se nos presenta un kyklos, un orbis, similar a lo que Homero ha simbolizado en el escudo de Aquiles y Virgilio en el de Eneas (9), es decir, para permanecer en el ámbito iránico, con ese atributo del Hombre Universal (insân-e kâmil) que es la Copa de Jamshid.  En esta representación, la Tierra está rodeada del océano cósmico y dividida en siete zonas (Keshvar) (10); en el centro de la zona central, llamada Xvaniratha (“rueda luminosa”), “se encuentra Airyanem Vaejah (pahlavi Erân-Vêj), la cuna o germen de los Arios (= Iránicos).  Es allí donde se crearon los Kayanidi, los héroes legendarios; es ahí donde fue fundada la religión mazdeísta, desde donde se difunden a los otros Keshvar; es allí donde nacerá el último de los Saoshyant quién reducirá a Ahriman a la impotencia y llevará a cabo la resurrección y la existencia venidera”(11).  Situado al centro de la superficie de la tierra, Irán se nos presenta por lo tanto, como “bisagra, no sólo geográfica, sino también y sobre todo espiritual” (12), de la ecúmene eurasiática.

La representación mazdeísta, posteriormente reelaborada, pasó a formar parte del legado cultural que Irán le trasmitió al Islam.  En el Kitab al-Tafhîm de Abû Rayhân Mohammad ibn Ahmad Bîrûnî (362 / 973 – 421 / 1030) (13) se encuentra un esquema en el cual el círculo central, Irán, está rodeado de otros seis círculos, tangentes entre sí, que corresponden a otras tantas regiones: India, Arabia y Abisinia, Siria y Egipto, la zona bizantino-eslava, el Turquestán, China y el Tíbet.

Oriente y Occidente

 

Según la perspectiva islámica, el centro del mundo terrestre se encuentra en la Kaaba, el más antiguo de los templos de Dios, inicialmente construido en la época de Adán, después edificado por Abraham en su forma actual. En la planta y la estructura de este santuario primordial y central meditó Qâzî Sa‘îd Qommî (1042/1633 – 1103/1691- 92) en el primer capítulo de la Kitâb asrâr al-Hajj (“El sentido esotérico de la Peregrinación”), que constituye el objeto de un minucioso estudio de Henry Corbin (14). “Siempre entra en juego – dice éste último – el mismo principio: las formas de luz (sowar nûrîya), las figuras superiores se imprimen en las realidades de abajo que son sus espejos (subrayemos que, geométricamente las consideraciones elaboradas aquí seguirían siendo válidas sí se tomara como objeto de meditación la forma del templo griego)” (15). Ahora, en el plano superior de las Realidades-arquetipos […] encontramos cuatro “límites metafísicos” (16), dos de las cuales (la Inteligencia Universal y el Alma Universal) se encuentran al este de la realidad ideal, mientras que las otras dos (la Naturaleza Universal y la Materia Universal) se encuentran hacia el oeste. La ley rigurosa de las correspondencias exige que en el plano de la Ka’ba terrestre, los ángulos estén igualmente dispuestos según el mismo orden de relación: “Dos de estos ángulos están hacia el oriente: el ángulo en el que está encajada la Piedra Negra (el ángulo iraquí) y el ángulo yemenita; los otros dos están al occidente: el ángulo occidental y el ángulo sirio “(17).  Son estos dos orientes (mashriqayni) y los dos occidentes (maghribayni) los que alude el versículo 17 de la sura del Misericordioso, puntualmente citado por Corbin.

El versículo coránico llama a otro, el que comienza con las palabras: “A Dios pertenece el Oriente y el Occidente” (sura de la Vaca, 115).  “Gottes ist der Orient! – Gottes ist der Okzident!”: es la forma en que la reconstruye Wolfgang Goethe, a quien Corbin nos muestra más de una vez la convergencia con la sabiduría islámica.  Pero la pareja “Oriente-Occidente ” retorna en el versículo de la Luz, en parte reportado en el epígrafe al primer capítulo de su estudio sobre El hombre de luz en el sufismo iranio: ”… una lámpara que arde con un aceite de olivo que no es ni de Oriente ni Occidente, inflamándose sin necesidad siquiera de que el fuego la toque… Y es luz sobre luz.

“Entre Oriente y Occidente, como entre Norte y Sur, recorren líneas ideales de las cuales dependen no sólo la orientación geográfica, sino también la categoría antropológica. En la perspectiva del simbolismo espiritual, estas direcciones horizontales asumen un sentido en base al modo en que el ser humano experimenta la dimensión vertical de su presencia en el espacio y en el tiempo; y es una orientación de este género lo que constituirá uno de los principales temas del sufismo iranio: “es la búsqueda de Oriente, pero se nos advierte, por si acaso no lo comprendamos desde el primer momento, que se trata de un Oriente que no se encuentra en nuestros mapas geográficos ni puede ser situado en ellos. Este Oriente no está incluido en ninguno de los siete climas (los keshvar); es, de hecho, el octavo clima. Y la dirección en que este “octavo clima” debe ser buscado no está en la horizontal sino en la vertical. Este Oriente místico suprasensible, lugar del Origen y el Retorno, objeto de la búsqueda eterna, está en el polo celeste; es el Polo, un extremo norte, tan extremo como el umbral de la dimensión del más allá” (18).  La geografía sagrada de Irán hace corresponder a este Polo celeste a la montaña cósmica de Qâf, donde comienza aquel mundo de Hûrqalyâ que es iluminado por el sol de medianoche. Es la tierra de los Hiperbóreos (19), los cuales “simbolizan al hombre cuya alma ha alcanzado tal perfección y armonía que está libre de negatividad y de sombra; no es ni de Oriente ni de Occidente” (20).

Ishraq, nombre verbal, que en árabe significa el irradiar del sol desde el punto del cual surge, es un término peculiar de la sabiduría islámica de Irán.  Ishrâqîyûn o Mashriqîyûn (“Orientales”) son los sabios de la antigua Persia, llamados así “ciertamente no sólo por su ubicación geográfica, sino porque su conocimiento era oriental, en el sentido que se fundamentaba sobre la revelación interior (kashf) y la visión mística (moshâhadat) “(21).  Sin embargo, el significado del Oriente como un Oriente iluminativo, dirección que conduce al Polo espiritual, no es un concepto que caracteriza exclusivamente al pensamiento tradicional iranio. “Esta orientación se daba ya a los mistagogos del orfismo. Se la encuentra en el poema de Parménides donde, guiado por las hijas del sol, el poeta emprende un viaje hacia Oriente. El sentido de las dos direcciones, derecha e izquierda, Oriente y Occidente del cosmos, es fundamental en la gnosis valentiniana. (…) Ibn ‘Arabi (1240) eleva a símbolo su propia partida a Oriente; del viaje que de Andalucía le lleva hacia La Meca y Jerusalén hace su Isra’, homologándolo a un ékstasis que repite la ascensión del Profeta de cielo en cielo hasta el “Loto del límite”. Aquí el Oriente geográfico, “literal”, se convierte en símbolo del Oriente “real”, el polo celeste” (22).

Umbilicus Terrae

En la geografía sagrada resultante de las exploraciones espirituales de Henry Corbin, el extremo occidental de Eurasia está representado por las Islas Británicas. Aquí los fieles de la iglesia celta primitiva fueron designados en irlandés como céle Dé: denominación que equivale a Amici Dei, “se encuentra en la gnosis islámica (Awliyâ’ Allâh) y en la mística renana (Gottesfreunde)” (23).  Estos Coli Dei, “establecidos en York (Inglaterra), en Iona (Escocia), en el país de Gales y en  Irlanda, su símbolo fundamental era la paloma, como símbolo femenino del Espíritu Santo.  Desde esta perspectiva, no resulta extraño encontrar el druidismo mezclado a su tradición y los poemas de Taliesin integrados a sus corpus.  Igualmente, la epopeya de la Mesa Redonda y la Demanda del Santo Graal han sido también interpretadas en relación con los ritos de los Coli Dei” (24). A esta misma hermandad espiritual es reconducida la existencia del santuario de Kilwinning, sobre la montaña de Heredom, desde donde se irradió aquel Orden Real por el cual el rey Robert I Bruce se habría afiliado a los Templarios, realizando la convergencia entre el celtismo y el templarismo.

En la otra extremidad de Eurasia se extiende la China “el límite del mundo humano, del mundo que puede ser explorado por el hombre en las condiciones de la conciencia común” (25).  Por otra parte, influencias taoístas se habrían ejercido sobre la hierocosmologia del sufismo centroasiático y sobre algunas técnicas de recitación del dhikr adoptadas por la escuela de Najm Kobra (26). Entre los templos que se levantan en los confines de China hay uno, descrito en el siglo X por el historiador árabe Mas‘ûdî (27), que en su estructura obedece al paradigma arquitectónico de los templos sabeos; el mismo Mas‘ûdî había visto aquel de Harrán (la antigua Carrhae), y pudo todavía leer en el umbral la inscripción de tenor platónico: “Aquél que se conoce a sí mismo es deificado” (Man ‘arafa nafsahu ta’allaha). “Inscripción de tenor platónico” (28), cierto, en el que “el término técnico árabe es el equivalente de la theosis de los místicos bizantinos” (29), pero también la explicación del precepto délfico, que finalmente será validado en el hadîth qudsî: “Quién se conoce a sí mismo conoce a su Señor ” (Man ‘arafa nafsahu ‘arafa rabbahu). Mientras tanto, los hermetistas sabeos de Harrán aportarán en dote al Islam su herencia, derivada de una antigua sabiduría siríaca o siriobabiloniense reinterpretada a la luz del neoplatonismo.

Equidistante de Escocia y China está Al-Quds, “la ciudad santa” por antonomasia. En el lugar donde inició la Asunción el Mensajero de Dios – según Corbin un verdadero Umbilicus Terrae – “asume ahí una función homóloga a la de la Piedra Negra en el templo de la Ka’ba” (30), la Cúpula de la Roca (Qubbat al-Sakhrat). Este edificio, comúnmente llamado la Mezquita de Omar, “tiene la forma de un octógono regular culminado por una cúpula; fue el prototipo de las iglesias templarias construidas en Europa, y la cúpula fue el símbolo de la Orden y figuraba en el sello del Gran Maestre” (31). Este entrelazamiento de líneas espirituales diferentes hace de Jerusalén el simbólico edificio microcósmico, en el que se refleja la multiplicidad tradicional del macrocosmos eurasiático, aquella multiplicidad de formas que Henry Corbin nos presenta en su unidad esencial.

La oposición radical entre Jerusalén y Atenas, identificadas como polos emblemáticos respectivamente del monoteísmo y el politeísmo, es el punto donde convergen entre ellos los zelotas de las supuestas “raíces judeo-cristianas” de Europa y algunos defensores de un malentendido “paganismo” griego.  Sostener una posición de este tipo, queriendo reducirle a un esquema ideológico a una relación más bien profunda, compleja y articulada de cuanto no se imaginan los “judeo-cristianos” y “neopaganos”, significa ignorar cómo la más rigurosa doctrina metafísica de la Unidad (el Tawhid integral de la metafísica islámica) no excluye de hecho la multiplicidad relacionada a la jerarquía de los Nombres Divinos. Entre los que han entendido perfectamente lo anterior, está justamente Henry Corbin, quien, mediante el establecimiento de una ideal “comparación, por una parte entre Ibn ‘Arabî  (…) y Proclo, por otra” (32) y recordando el comentario del jefe de escuela de Atenas al Parménides platónico, evoca el encuentro de los físicos de la escuela jónica con los metafísicos de la Escuela Itálica, unos y otros se encuentran en la ciudad-símbolo de Atenas para participar en las Panateneas. “Celebrar esta fiesta – él escribe- es encontrar en la escuela ática de Sócrates y Platón la mediación que eleva los dos extremos a un nivel superior” (33).

 

1. Henry Corbin, L’Iran e la filosofia, Guida, Napoli 1992, p. 62.

2. P. Masson-Oursel, La Philosophie en Orient, in Histoire de la philosophie, a cura di É. Bréhier, Paris 1948, 1° fasc. suppl.

3. Henry Corbin, L’Iran e la filosofia, cit., ibidem.

4. Glauco Giuliano, Nitartha. Saggi per un pensiero eurasiatico, La Finestra, Lavis 2004, p. 14

5. Glauco Giuliano, Nitartha, cit., p. 221

6. Glauco Giuliano, Nitartha, cit., p. 16.

7. Sîrôza, vigésimo octavo día, op. cit.: Henry Corbin, Cuerpo espiritual y Tierra Celeste. Del Irán mazdeísta al Irán chiíta, Ediciones Siruela, Madrid, 1996, p. 37.

8. Glauco Giuliano, Nitartha, cit., p. 16, n. 25.

9. Ilíada, XVIII, 478-608; Eneida, VIII, 626-728.

10. La división septenaria del espacio terrestre que se repite en otras culturas tradicionales: cf. Claudio Mutti, Gentes. Popoli, territori, miti, Effepi, Genova 2010, pp. 19-20.

11. Henry Corbin, Cuerpo espiritual y Tierra Celeste, cit., p. 51.

12. Glauco Giuliano, Nitartha, cit., p. 22.

13. Henry Corbin, Historia de la Filosofía. Del mundo romano al Islam Medieval, vol. 3. Siglo veintiuno editores, México DF, 1990, pp 307-308.

14. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, Editorial Trotta, Madrid, 2003, pp. 181-257.   Sobre Qâzî Sa’îd Qommî, cf. Henry Corbin, Historia de la Filosofía. La Filosofía en Oriente, vol. 11. Siglo veintiuno editores, México DF, 1990, p. 154-157

15. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación cit., p. 206.

16. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación cit., p. 207.

17. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 207.

18. Henry Corbin, El hombre de luz en el sufismo iranio, Ediciones Siruela, Madrid, 2000, p. 20.

19. Sobre la Hiperbórea y similares representaciones tradicionales de la septentrional “Tierra de luz”, cf. Claudio Mutti, op. cit., pp 15-23.

20. Henry Corbin, El hombre de luz en el sufismo iranio, cit., p. 56.

21. Henry Corbin, Storia della filosofia islamica, cit., p. 211.

22. Henry Corbin, El hombre de luz en el sufismo iranio, cit., págs. 73-74.

23. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 342 n. 217.

24. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 342.

25. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 132.

26. Henry Corbin, El hombre de luz en el sufismo iranio, cit., pp. 72 y 77 y ss.

27. Mas’ûdî, Les prairies d’or, ed. e trad. Barbier de Maynard, Paris 1914, vol. IV, p. 52.

28. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación,  cit., p. 133.

29. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 133, n 7.

30. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 351.

31. Henry Corbin, Templo y contemplación, cit., p. 334.

32. Henry Corbin, La paradoja del monoteísmo, Editorial Losada, Madrid, 2003, p. 22.

33. Henry Corbin, La paradoja del monoteísmo, cit., p. 30.

 

* Claudio Mutti es licenciado en Filología Finohúngara por la Universidad de Bolonia. Se ha ocupado del área cárpato-danubiana desde un perfil histórico (A oriente di Roma e di Berlino, Effepi, Genova 2003), etnográfico (Storie e leggende della Transilvania, Oscar Mondadori, Milano 1997) y cultural (Le penne dell’Arcangelo. Intellettuali e Guardia di Ferro, Società Editrice Barbarossa, Milano 1994; Eliade, Vâlsan, Geticus e gli altri. La fortuna di Guénon tra i Romeni, Edizioni all’insegna del Veltro, Parma 1999). Entre sus últimas publicaciones están Gentes. Popoli, territori, miti, (Effepi, Genova 2010), L’unità dell’Eurasia (Effepi, Genova 2008), Imperium. Epifanie dell’idea di Impero (Effepi, Genova 2005).

Congreso Internacional “Maestros del tradicionalismo hispánico"

Congreso Internacional “Maestros del tradicionalismo hispánico de la segunda mitad del siglo XX”

 

El Consejo de Estudios Hispánicos Felipe II tiene el honor de invitar al Congreso Internacional

 

MAESTROS DEL TRADICIONALISMO HISPÁNICO DE LA SEGUNDA MITAD DEL SIGLO XX

 

que tendrá lugar (D.m.) en Madrid el sábado 13 de septiembre de 2014, en su sede de la calle José Abascal (ant. General Sanjurjo), 38, bajo izquierda, con el siguiente programa:

 

10:00. Introducción.

 

Presidencia de Miguel Ayuso
Presidente del Consejo de Estudios Hispánicos Felipe II

 

• Piedad y desarraigo: una pesquisa sobre los tradicionalismos,
  José Antonio Ullate, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija de Madrid.
• Libertades concretas y libertad cristiana en el pensamiento de los maestros del tradicionalismo (Francisco Elías de Tejada, Rafael Gambra y Álvaro d’Ors),
  Jacek Bartyzel, Universidad de Toruń.

 

11:30. Segunda parte: Maestros peninsulares.

 

Presidencia de Consuelo Martínez-Sicluna
Vicedecana de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid

 

• Vegas Latapie (1907-1985) contra el «propagandismo católico»,
  Andrés Gambra, Universidad R. Juan Carlos de Madrid.
• El «divinismo» de Leopoldo Eulogio Palacios (1912-1981),
  José Miguel Gambra, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
• La «hispanidad» en Jesús Evaristo Casariego (1913-1990),
  Luis Infante, Círculo Cultural Juan Vázquez de Mella de Asturias.
• Schmitt y Álvaro d’Ors (1915-2004): una inspiración ad modum recipientis,
  Juan Fernando Segovia, Universidad de Mendoza.
• Elías de Tejada (1917-1978) y el tradicionalismo napolitano,
  Maurizio Di Giovine, Congresos Tradicionalistas de Civitella del Tronto.
• Libertad civil, subsidiariedad y foralismo en Vallet de Goytisolo (1917-2011),
  José Joaquín Jerez, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid.
• La comunidad no «comunitarista» de Rafael Gambra (1920-2004),
  Juan Manuel Rozas, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija de Madrid.
• La teología de la historia de Francisco Canals (1922-2009),
  Javier Barraycoa, Universidad Abad Oliva de Barcelona.

 

17:00. Tercera parte: Maestros ultramarinos.

 

Presidencia de Juan Cayón
Secretario General del Consejo de Estudios Hispánicos Felipe II

 

• Osvaldo Lira (1904-1996), tradicionalista hispánico,
  José Díaz Nieva, Universidad Santo Tomás de Santiago de Chile.
  Cristián Garay, Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
• El tradicionalismo político de José Pedro Galvão de Sousa (1912-1992),
  José Albert, Universidad de Córdoba.
• La teología de la historia de Rubén Calderón Bouchet (1918-2012),
  Luis María De Ruschi, Universidad Católica Argentina de Buenos Aires.
• Frederick D. Wilhelmsen (1923-1996), un carlista estadounidense,
  Miguel Ayuso, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid.

 

19:00. Santa Misa en el aniversario de la muerte de S.M.C. Don Felipe II (+1598).

Miyamoto Musashi’s Dokkodo

Miyamoto Musashi’s Dokkodo

by Frank Haider

Ex: http://www.ridingthetiger.org

Dokkodo (獨行道), roughly translated means  “The Path of Walking Alone,”  “The Path of Independence,” or “The Lone Path”/  Although the English translation does not give the title much justice, it is should be noted that this refers not to a path of nihilistic abandon, nor a path of misanthropy.  Misanthropes who have crossed beyond a certain point will not be able to adhere to it unless they have the discipline and fortitude for it.  It is a demanding way and requires that the person choosing the path be able to endure its precepts, including those such as being in the world, without being of it in the sense of being drowned in ‘worldliness.’  Such a concept is paralleled the Christian injunctions that “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4) and “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12).  Similar concepts exist in the Qur’an, namely, “Do not let your wealth or your children distract you from the remembrance of God”.  When the “Eastern” Daoist and Buddhist veneers are stripped away, we find something not at all that different from monotheistic teachings.  It is worth examining this code for relevance to augment understanding of the world.

A woodblock print depicting Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) wielding two bokken.

1. Do not go against the traditions that have been handed down from the generations (世々の道をそむく事なし)

The first principle is a bit difficult to translate directly into English.  The phrase 世々 (yoyo) refers roughly to “previous generations,” while 道 (michi) refers to “the way”; そむく (somoku) means “oppose,” and 事なし (kotonashi) is the negation of a verb.  It has variously been translated as, “Accept things as they are” or “Do not go against the way of the world”.

In “accepting things as they are,” one is not asked to tolerate evil or be passive, but is in an active mental struggle to realize our true place in the world and how small we are.  It is a battle against the ego to accept our mistakes, to bury the past, and live in the now instead of in the future.  Often things we resist are in the past: not accepting that someone has died or being angry over events that have occurred previously. These are things we simply can not change and that is why it makes no sense to resist what has happened.

By respecting the traditions, one “traverses time from the past to the future”. According to Imai Masayuki, this sentence indicates a man who is independent, yet, acting freely conforms to a truth of human nature.

2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake (身にたのしみをたくます)

The most direct application here is to refrain from engaging in behavior that gives one temporary satisfaction, without understanding the consequences.  For instance, it may be more pleasurable to spend one’s spare time with wine, woman and song, rather than in serious study.  In a hedonistic, decadent, narcissistic world one can get easily distracted in the sights and sounds even though temporary.  It is important to be aware of how harmful these things can be once they become so imbued into our characters as to become a ‘raison d’etre.’  The addiction to flesh, drink, substances, and even music has been studied and found to be folly.  Hence the reasonable parameters imposed by society and The Divine.

3. Do not rely upon any half-hearted prejudices. (よろすに依枯の心なし)

Sometimes, it is necessary to take a step back and make a better assessment of the situation.  A true warrior, sage, or gentleman is not impulsive or hot-headed, and should strive to uphold justice in all situations.  This also means that in dealing with other people, one does not take sides with a certain party without good reason, nor does he harbor indifference towards others.

4. Think humbly of yourself, but deeply of the world (身をあさく思、世をふかく思ふ)

This means to be humble and to think of one’s superficiality.  Musashi is telling us here that one should not overestimate one’s importance in the world.  Such a self-centered view is dominated by egocentricity and selfish desires.  One must evolve beyond such delusions, but at the same time accept that each person has their own limits.

This can also mean to not take excessive pride in one’s own accomplishments and possessions:  Do not think that your entire self-worth is in your job or your possessions, rather than in your character or your good deeds. You are not what you own.  This is difficult when people gauge worth with material success; your car is not you, your house is not you, your Rolex is not your soul, Gucci has no dominion over your heart.

5. Be detached from desire your whole life long (一生の間よくしん思わす)

This ties in with the fourth precept.  Eliminate the driving need for wanting instead of a want for needing.  Then, you will have less fear and be unfettered by worldly cares.  If you are removed from your own desires, then it is easier to follow a path of right conduct.  Eliminate the lusts for material desires, and one already has enough.  The concept of wu wei, or mushin ties into this as your lack of hindrances like too much fear in an endeavor will give you success.

6. Do not regret your past (我事におゐて後悔をせす)

There are times when one has to make decisions.  Decisions, even if weighed carefully, are not always successful.  However, if you tried your best, and you put your best efforts into achieving the right outcome, that is good enough.  Of course, this does not apply to someone who is reckless and stubborn.  However, those who have the right intent need not dwell on the past that they cannot fix.  Instead repent, move on, and become better.

7. Never have bad intentions or envy in your heart (善惡に他をねたむ心なし)

Jealousy clouds the heart with envy; envy poisons the mind with anger and despair.  What seems to be someone else’s treasure may be a great burden.  With selfish desires in the heart, we cannot truly live a fulfilling life or be at peace with ourselves or others.  That lifestyle of those you envy may earn them an early death and debts for generations.  It is nothing to be jealous about.

8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation (いつれの道にもわかれをかなします)

According to the Buddha, attachment is the source of all suffering.   Meister Eckhart says, “He who would be serene and pure needs but detachment”.  Separation can apply to losing a partner, a pet, money, possessions or anything of the sort.  Things will come and go.  People will enter and leave.  Let them go.  The Divine will is going to decide who is going to be with whom and how. 

9. Complaining and bearing grudges are appropriate neither for oneself or others (自他共にうらみかこつ心なし)

Our selfish desires may lead us to complain about others.  For instance, if a person is unsatisfied with another person, he may spread rumors or complain about the other behind his back.  He may also hold a grudge against such a person.  This is not the behavior of a wise person.  Deal with it, it will make you stronger. 

10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love (れんほの道思ひよるこゝろなし)

In the context of Buddhism, In Buddhism there are five different kinds of desires based on desire for money, lust, appetite, desire for fame, desire for sleep.  Out of these, lust, being a biological drive, is very hard to avoid.  Control yourself and use logical thought when going down that path.  To be at the whim of emotion is to be a slave and then to be attached to most temporary of material possessions: a mortal body.  It will not even withstand the wind like the mountain, or show the same splendor for aeons like the stars.  These too are material objects which will have their death as The Giver and Taker ordains.

11. In all things, have no preferences (物毎にすきこのむ事なし)

Again, this does not mean to become a nihilist.  On the contrary, it means to not be obsessed over small and inconsequential matters.  Do not be driven or guided by what you cannot control.

12. Be indifferent to where you live (私宅におゐてのそむ心なし)

Where you live is not a matter of importance when you follow this way.  As you are already trying to depart from these cares, you should be able to be steadfast and thrive anywhere.

13. Do not pursue the taste of luxurious food (身ひとつに美食をこのます)

The purpose of eating is to nourish oneself.  Luxurious food does not accomplish this any better than simple food.  In his life, Musashi was a warrior who at times faced levels of extreme privation.  However, in the worldview of the bushi, life itself is preparation for war.  Avoiding that which is unnecessary is better than indulging in it.

14. Do not become attached to old possessions you no longer need (末々代物なる古き道具を所持せす)

Nothing in the world remains ours forever.  Upon death, one’s personal items typically become the property of another.  Removing clutter from your life with generosity allows you to live a more unhindered existence and also be aware that you need little.  You came into the world with nothing, you travel lightly in the world, and you will leave it with nothing.

15. Do not act following customary beliefs (わか身にいたり物いみする事なし)

Although this seems to contradict the first principle, all this is saying is that there are times in which what is popular will not always be right.  For instance, what use is it to worship celebrities, to bury oneself in pursuit of that extolled?  It just wastes time and time is what you will never have enough of.  Walk the way and live guided by what is ever-enduring.  It will be there after this society has faded into the sands of history.

16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful (兵具は格別よの道具たしなます)

What is the utility of engaging in hours practicing or acquiring that which you do not need?  For the warrior, weapons are not merely possessions to be owned and collected in the same manner that a merchant may collect trinkets.  Today we may not need swords, but instead must use other objects for defense of person, loved ones, and property.  Are these tools, worth much pursuit?

17. Don’t spend your entire life being preoccupied with death (道におゐてハ 死を いとわす 思ふ)

Death will happen just as you have been born.  As a warrior, to live without the fear of death is paramount.  For a sage or scholar, one who lives a proper life and death does not need to fear death.  For someone who has lived properly, physical death is not an end, but the hand which will lift the veil of life separating him from The Compassionate Sustainer.  Death is as natural as life; life indeed by its nature is the purchase of death.  What is better? To depart with a good record, or choose a legacy of iniquity?

18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age (老身に財寳所領もちゆる心なし)

Millions try to save up all their lives for their dreams: to retire wealthy, to have fun, to own a house of their own.  Usually this money goes instead for their care as the world of work has taken its toll.  Have no illusions.

19. Revere the Divine but do not demand assistance (佛神は貴し佛神をたのます)

Although this can be viewed as an atheistic sentiment, it can also be interpreted to mean not to be arrogant in the face of the Divine, by demanding certain things.  One should not have the illusion that one’s own desires are a manifestation of the divine will.  As that immortal essence which transcends everything, God in its own driving of the greater forces which become the laws of reality will determine the necessity of your supplications.  The Divine decides everything and has the best answer for particular petitions.  Nevertheless, without reverence and sincerity, one cannot be in harmony with the Godhead.  Regardless of what is given, it is duty of the believer to believe in, love, and worship.

20. You may discard your own body, but you must preserve your honour (身を捨ても名利はすてす)

There are worse things than dying.  There are situations when dying is the most noble and preferable action to take.

21. Never abandon the Eternal Way (常に兵法の道をはなれす)

The purpose of the Dokkodo is to bring out a form of active asceticism – the warrior’s asceticism of action, as Evola would have put it.  Whatever happens, stay on the path: when the purpose become enlightenment, the Way becomes of paramount of importance.

Regardless of the external trappings of culture and the differences made manifest in it, there are universal ideals and beliefs within religious and martial traditions.  These doctrines give a sense of civility, sophistication, moral understanding, and examples to people and nations who are flawed.  Being flawed is the nature of the human being.  Flawed beings are always in need of Divine Guidance and its implementation.  As above, so below.

Sao Paulo: IV Encontro Internacional Evoliano

DE PIE SOBRE LAS RUINAS

DE PIE SOBRE LAS RUINAS

de Juan Pablo Vítali

 

De Pie Sobre las Ruinas

 

POR

 

JUAN PABLO VÍTALI

 

 

Diseño: Fernando Lutz
Maquetación y correciones: Manuel Q.
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Páginas: 152

Tamaño: 21 x 15 cm

Edición en rústica (cosido) con solapas de 8 cm

P.V.P.: 15 €

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ISBN: 978-84-940846-8-3 

 

www.edicionescamzo.com

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Sabadell-CAM:

 

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 “Los poetas no están para interpretar poderes circunstanciales ni superficiales ideologías. Ellos expresan lo sagrado de los mundos auténticos e irrumpen como un rayo para alumbrar fugazmente la edad oscura. El poeta no es un dios, pero suele hablar por los dioses…..”

 

“El hombre moderno se ha colocado a sí mismo fuera de toda comprensión poética. Esa es acaso, la mejor definición de la edad oscura...”

 

“Lo poético no reside en el verso ni en la rima, sino en la tensión espiritual y épica del texto, en la sucesión simbólica que crece y se eleva hacia el objetivo, como la flecha de un arquero zen...”

 

“Los símbolos poéticos convocan a la percepción del hombre lo que está más allá de la percepción material. La poesía es la voluntad de plasmar un lenguaje simbólico no como la excepción, sino como la regla de un Orden Nuevo…..”

 

“La poesía es un mundo de dioses, que tiene por naturaleza la eternidad de los ciclos, el eterno retorno. Poeta y guerrero abren ciertas puertas a riesgo de sus vidas, para que otros pasen por ellas hacia la eternidad. Tal es su trágico destino…...”

 

 

Juan Pablo Vítali

Teoría del Mundo Cúbico

Teoría del Mundo Cúbico  

Diálogo sobre la Teoría del Mundo Cúbico.- EMInves ha publicado una recopilación de artículos, corregidos y aumentados, acompañados de una conclusión, titulada Teoría del Mundo Cúbico. El libro ha aparecido precisamente la misma semana en la que menos de la mitad del electorado acudía a las urnas para elegir sus representantes en Europa y quizás sea este hecho por el que convenga empezar el diálogo con su autor, Ernesto Milá:

– Nuestro pueblo no parece ha estado muy interesado por las elecciones europeas… ¿Cómo sitúan en su libro a la Unión Europea?

– Es simple: la UE podía haberlo sido todo y, sin embargo, ha optado por no ser nada. La UE podía haberse constituido como una de las “patas” de un mundo multipolar, una de las zonas con mejor nivel de vida y bienestar de las poblaciones. Y, sin embargo, ha preferido ser una pieza más de un mundo globalizado y, como tal, una víctima más de esa odiosa concepción económico–política que aspira a homogeneizar el mundo en función de los intereses de la economía financiera y especulativa.

– Así pues, no hay futuro para Europa dentro de la globalización…

– Exacto, desde hace 25 años, Europa viene siendo víctima de un doble fenómeno: de un lado la deslocalización industrial en virtud de la cual, las plantas productoras de manufacturas tienden a abandonar territorio europeo y a trasladarse a zonas del planeta con menos coberturas sociales y, especialmente, salarios más bajos; de otro lado, la inmigración masiva traslada masas ingentes del “tercer mundo” hacia Europa con la finalidad de aumentar la fuerza de trabajo a disposición, logrando así tirar a la baja de los salarios. Ambos procesos –deslocalización industrial e inmigración masiva– tienden a rentabilizar el rendimiento del capital: se produce más barato fuera de Europa y lo que no hay más remedio que se fabrique en Europa, cuesta menos gracias a la inmigración masiva. Eufemísticamente, a este proceso, se le llama “ganar competitividad” y registra en su nómina a una ínfima minoría de beneficiarios y a una gran masa de damnificados. Por eso es rechazable.

– Hablando de “modelos”, en la introducción dices que tu Teoría del Mundo Cúbico es un modelo de interpretación de la modernidad, ¿puedes ampliarnos esta idea?

– Lo esencial de toda teoría política es interpretar el mundo en función de un esquema propio que ayude a explicar la génesis de la coyuntura histórica que se vive y cuál será su evolución futura. Esto es hasta tal punto necesario que, sin esto, puede decirse que ninguna doctrina política, ninguna concepción del mundo, logrará definir los mecanismos estratégicos para modificar aquellos aspectos de la realidad que le resulten rechazables o discordantes. Para que un modelo de interpretación de la realidad sea eficiente, es preciso que integre los aspectos esenciales del fenómeno que analiza. Los modelos geométricos son particularmente interesantes por lo que tienen de “visual”. De entre ellos, el cubo es, sin duda, el que mejor se adapta a la globalización y, por tanto, es el que hemos utilizado para nuestro análisis.

– Así pues, si no se comprende bien lo que es la globalización, ¿más vale no intentar aventuras políticas?

– Exactamente. Cuando emprendes un viaje, una aventura, debes llevar contigo un mapa. El mapa es, en definitiva, el modelo de interpretación que te llevará del lugar en el que te encuentras a aquel otro al que quieres llegar. Nadie sensato se atrevería a iniciar un viaje sin disponer de un plano susceptible de indicarle en cada momento dónde se encuentra y si va por la buena o por la mala dirección. Hoy, el factor dominante de nuestra época es el mundialismo y la globalización; el primero sería de naturaleza ideológica y en el segundo destaca su vertiente económica, especialmente. ¿Qué podríamos proponer a la sociedad si ignorásemos lo que es la globalización? Incluso Cristóbal Colón tenía una idea clara de a dónde quería ir; para él, su modelo de interpretación era la esfera; sabía pues que si partía de una orilla del mar, necesariamente, en algún lugar, llegaría a otra orilla. Desconocer lo que es la globalización y sus procesos supone no asentar la acción política sobre bases falsas y, por supuesto, una imposibilidad para elegir una estrategia de rectificación.

– ¿Qué pretendes transmitir a través de estas páginas?

– En primer lugar la sensación de que la globalización es el factor esencial de nuestro tiempo. Luego, negar cualquier virtud al sistema mundial globalizado, acaso, el peor de todos los sistemas posibles y, desde luego, la última consecuencia del capitalismo que inició su ascenso en Europa a partir del siglo XVII. Tras el capitalismo industrial, tras el capitalismo multinacional, no podía existir una fase posterior que no fuera especulativa y financiera a escala planetaria. Cuando George Soros o cualquier otro de los “señores del dinero” vierten alabanzas sobre la globalización, lo hacen porque forman parte de una ínfima minoría de beneficiarios que precisan de un solo mercado mundial para enriquecerse segundo a segundo, al margen de que la inmensa mayoría del planeta, también segundo a segundo, se vaya empobreciendo simétricamente. En la globalización hay “beneficiarios” y “damnificados”, sus intereses con incompatibles. Finalmente, quería llamar la atención sobre la rapidez de los procesos históricos que han ocurrido desde la Caída del Muro de Berlín. Lejos de haber llegado el tiempo el “fin de la historia”, lo que nos encontramos es con una “aceleración de la historia” en la que e están quemando etapas a velocidad de vértigo. La globalización que emerge a partir de 1989, en apenas un cuarto de siglo, ha entrado en crisis. En 2007, la crisis de las suprime inauguró la serie de crisis en cadena que recorren el planeta desde entonces, crisis inmobiliarias, crisis financieras, crisis bancarias, crisis de deuda, crisis de paro, etc, etc. En cada una de estas crisis, da la sensación de que el sistema mundial se va resquebrajando, pero que se niega a rectificar las posiciones extremas hacia las que camina cada vez de manera más vertiginosa. Con apenas 25 años, la globalización está hoy en crisis permanente. Así pues, lo que pretendo transmitir es por qué no hay salida dentro de la globalización.

– ¿Y por qué no hay salida…?

– La explicación se encuentra precisamente en el modelo interpretativo que propongo: está formado por un cubo de seis caras, opuestas dos a dos; así por ejemplo, tenemos a los beneficiarios de la globalización en la cara superior y a los damnificados por la globalización en la cara inferior; a los actores geopolíticos tradicionales a un lado y a los actores geopolíticos emergentes de otro; al progreso científico que encuentra su oposición en la neodelincuencia que ha aparecido por todas partes. Así pues tenemos un cubo con seis caras, doce aristas en las que confluyen caras contiguas y ocho vértices a donde van a parar tres caras en cada uno. Así pues, del análisis de cada una de estas caras y de sus contradicciones entre sí, de las aristas, que nos indicarán las posibilidades de convivencia o repulsión entre aspectos contiguos y de los vértices que nos dirá si allí se generan fuerzas de atracción o repulsión que mantengan la cohesión del conjunto o tiendan a disgregarlo respectivamente, aparece como conclusión el que las fuerzas centrípetas que indican posibilidades de estallido de la globalización se manifiestan en todos los vértices del cubo, así como las fricciones en las aristas, y hacen, teóricamente imposible, el que pueda sobrevivir durante mucho tiempo la actual estructura del poder mundial globalizado.

– ¿Quiénes son los “amos del mundo”? ¿Los “señores del dinero”…?

– En primer lugar es preciso desembarazarse de teorías conspiranoicas. Si el mundo estuviera dirigido por una “logia secreta” o por unos “sabios de Sión”, al menos sabríamos hacia donde nos pretenden llevar y existiría una “inteligencia secreta”, un “plan preestablecido”. Lo más terrible es que ni siquiera existe eso. El capitalismo financiero y especulador ha dado vida a un sistema que ya es controlado por ninguna persona, ni por ningún colectivo, ni institución. Simplemente, la evolución del capitalismo en su actual fase de desarrollo está completamente fuera de control de cualquier inteligencia humana. De ahí que en nuestro modelo interpretativo, la cara superior del cubo –la que representa a los beneficiarios de la globalización– no sea plana sino que tenga la forma de un tronco de pirámide. En el nivel superior de esta estructura piramidal truncada se encuentran las grandes acumulaciones de capital, lo que solemos llamar “los señores del dinero”… pero no constituyen ni un “sanedrín secreto”, ni siquiera pueden orientar completamente los procesos de la economía mundial. Simplemente, insisto, la economía se ha convertido en un caballo desbocado, que escapa a cualquier control…

– Entonces… ¿quién dirige el mundo?

– … efectivamente, esta es la pregunta que faltaba. En mi modelo, esta pirámide truncada, está coronada por una pieza homogénea que está por encima de todo el conjunto. En los obeliscos antiguos esta pieza era dorada o, simplemente, hecha de oro, y se conocía como “pyramidion”. En la globalización ese “pyramidion” son los valores de los que se nutre el neocapitalismo: afán de lucro, búsqueda insensata del mayor beneficio especulativo, etc, en total veinte principios doctrinales que enuncio en el último capítulo de la obra y que constituyen lo que podemos considerar como “la religión de los señores del dinero”. Esos “principios” son los que verdaderamente “dirigen la globalización”. Los “señores del dinero” no son más que sus “fieles devotos”, pero no tienen ningún control sobre los dogmas de su religión.

– ¿Hay alternativa a la globalización?

– Sí, claro, ante: la llamada “economía de los grandes espacios”. Reconocer que el mundo es demasiado diverso y que un sistema mundial globalizado es completamente imposible. Reconocer que solamente espacios económicos más o menos homogéneos, con similares PIB, con similar cultura, sin abismos ni brechas antropológicas, pueden constituir “unidades económicas” y que, cada uno de estos espacios, debe estar protegido ante otros en donde existan condiciones diferentes de producción, por barreras arancelarias. Y, por supuesto, que el capital financiero debe estar en primer lugar ligado a una nación y en segundo lugar tributar como actividad parasitaria y no productiva. La migración constante del capital financiero en busca siempre de mayores beneficios es lo que genera, a causa de su movilidad, inestabilidad internacional. Hace falta poner barreras para sus migraciones y disminuir su impacto, no sólo en la economía mundial, sino también en la economía de las naciones. Los Estados deben desincentivar las migraciones del capital especulativo y favorecer la inversión productiva, industrial y científica.

– ¿Es posible vencer a la globalización?

–  La globalización tiene dos grandes enemigos: en primer lugar, los Estados–Nación que disponen todavía de un arsenal legislativo, institucional y orgánico para defender la independencia y la soberanía nacionales de cualquier asalto, incluido el de los poderes económicos oligárquicos y apátridas; se entiende, que una de las consignas sagradas del neoliberalismo sea “más mercado, menos Estado”, que garantiza que los intereses económicos de los propietarios del capital se impongan con facilidad sobre los derechos de las poblaciones que deberían estar defendidos y protegidos por el Estado, en tanto que encarnación jurídica de la sociedad. El otro, gran enemigo de la globalización es cualquier sistema de “identidades” que desdicen el universalismo que se propone desde los laboratorios ideológicos de la globalización (la UNESCO, ante todo) y son antagónicos con los procesos de homogeneización cultural y antropológica que acompañan a la globalización económica. Así pues está claro: para vencer a la globalización es preciso reivindicar la dignidad superior del Estado (y para ello hace falta crear una nueva clase política digna de gestionarlo) e incluso recuperar la idea de Estado como expresión jurídica de la sociedad, es decir, de todos (con todo lo que ello implica) y, por otra parte, es preciso reafirmar las identidades nacionales, étnicas, regionales. Allí donde haya Estado e Identidad, allí no hay lugar para la globalización.

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The Life & Writings of Julius Evola

MERCURY RISING: THE LIFE & WRITINGS OF JULIUS EVOLA

 

The Life & Writings of Julius Evola

by Gwendolyn Taunton

Ex: http://alternative-right.blogspot.com

If the industrious man, through taking action,
Does not succeed, he should not be blamed for that –
He still perceives the truth.
                    　　　　～The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahābhārata (2,16)

If we could select a single aspect by which to define Julius Evola, it would have been his desire to transcend the ordinary and the world of the profane. It was characterized by a thirst for the Absolute, which the Germans call mehr als leben – “more than living.” This idea of transcending worldly existence colours not only his ideas and philosophy, it is also evident throughout his life which reads like a litany of successes. During the earlier years Evola excelled at whatever he chose to apply himself to: his talents were evident in the field of literature, for which he would be best remembered, and also in the arts and occult circles.

Born in Rome on the 19th of May in 1898, Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola was the son of an aristocratic Sicilian family, and like many children born in Sicily, he had received a stringent Catholic upbringing. As he recalled in his intellectual autobiography, Il cammino del cinabro [1963, 1972, The Cinnabar's Journey], his favourite pastimes consisted of painting, one of his natural talents, and of visiting the library as often as he could in order to read works by Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Otto Weininger.[1]  During his youth he also studied engineering, receiving excellent grades but chose to discontinue his studies prior to the completion of his doctorate, because he "did not wish to be bourgeois, like his fellow students." At the age of nineteen Evola joined the army and participated in World War I as a mountain artillery officer. This experience would serve as an inspiration for his use of mountains as metaphors for solitude and ascension above the chthonic forces of the earth. Evola was also a friend of Mircea Eliade, who kept in correspondence with Evola from 1927 until his death. He was also an associate of the Tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci and the Tantric scholar Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon).

 

Sir John Woodroffe

During his younger years Evola was briefly involved in art circles, and despite this being only a short lived affair, it was also a time that brought him great rewards. Though he would later denounce Dada as a decadent form of art it was within the field of modern art that Evola first made his name, taking a particular interest in Marinetti and Futurism. His oil painting, Inner Landscape, 10:30 a.m., is hanging today on a wall of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.[2]  He also composed Arte Astratta (Abstract Art) but later, after experiencing a personal crisis, turned to the study of Nietzsche, from which sprang his Teoria dell, individuo assoluto (Theory of the Absolute Individual) in 1925. By 1921 Evola had abandoned the pursuit of art as the means to place his unique mark on the world. The revolutionary attitudes of Marinetti, the Futurist movement and the so-called avant-garde which had once fascinated him, no longer appeared worthwhile to Evola with their juvenile emphasis on shocking the bourgeois. Likewise, despite being a talented poet, Evola (much like another of his inspirations – Arthur Rimbaud) abandoned poetry at the age of twenty four. Evola did not write another poem nor paint another picture for over forty years. Thus, being no longer enamored of the arts, Evola chose instead to pursue another field entirely that he would one day award him even greater acclaim.

 

To this day, the magical workings of the Ur Group and its successor Krur remain as some of the most sophisticated techniques for the practice of esoteric knowledge laid down in the modern Western era. Based on a variety of primary sources, ranging from Hermetic texts to advanced Yogic techniques, Evola occupied a prominent role in both of these groups. He wrote a number of articles for Ur and edited many of the others. These articles were collected in the book Introduction to Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus, which alongside Evola’s articles, are included the works of Arturo Reghini, Giulio Parese, Ercole Quadrelli and Gustave Meyrink. The original title of this work in Italian, Introduzione alla Magia quale scienza dell’lo, literally translates as Introduction to Magic as a Science of the “I”.[3]  In this sense, the 'I' is best interpreted as the ego, or the manipulation of the will – an idea which is also the found in the work of that other famous magician, Aleister Crowley and his notion of Thelema. The original format of Ur was as a monthly publication, of which the first issue was printed in January 1927.[4]

 

Contributors to this publication included Count Giovanni di Caesaro, a Steinerian, Emilio Servadio, a distinguished psychoanalyst, and Guido de Giorgio, a well-known adherent of Rudolph Steiner and an author of works on the Hermetic tradition. It was during this period, that he was introduced to Arturo Reghini, whose ideas would leave a lasting impression on Evola. Arturo Reghini (1878-1946), who was interested in speculative Masonry and the anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, introduced Evola to Guénon's writings and invited him to join the Ur group. Ur and its successor, Krur, gathered together a number of people interested in Guénon's exposition of the Hermetic tradition and in Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, Tantra, and magic.

Arturo Reghini was to be a major influence on Evola, and himself was a representative of the so-called Italian School (Scuola Italica), a secret order which claimed to have survived the downfall of the Roman Empire, to have re-emerged with Emperor Frederic II, and to have inspired the Florentine poets of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, up to Petrarch. Like Evola, Reghini had also written articles, one of which was entitled "Pagan Imperialism." This appeared in Salamandra in 1914, and in it Reghini summed up his anti-Catholic program for a return to a glorious pagan past. This piece had a profound impact on Evola, and it served as the inspiration for his similarly titled Imperialismo pagano. Imperialismo pagano, chronicling the negative effects of Christianity on the world, appeared in 1928. In the context of this work, Evola is the advocate of an anti-Roman Catholic pagan imperialism. According to Evola, Christianity had destroyed the imperial universality of the Roman Empire by insisting on the separation of the secular and the spiritual. It is from this separation that arose the inherent decadence and inward decay of the modern era. Out of Christianity’s implacable opposition to the healthy paganism of the Mediterranean world arose the secularism, democracy, materialism, scientism, socialism, and the "subtle Bolshevism" that heralded the final age of the current cosmic cycle: the age of "obscurity" the Kali-Yuga.[5]  Imperialismo pagano was to be later revised in a German edition as Heidnischer Imperialismus. The changes that occurred in the text of Evola’s Imperialismo pagano in its translation as Heidnischer Imperialismus five years later were not entirely inconsequential. Although the fundamental concepts that comprised the substance of Evola’s thought remained similar, a number of critical elements were altered that would transform a central point in Evola's thinking. The "Mediterranean tradition" of the earlier text is consistently replaced with the "Nordic-solar tradition" in this translation.[6]  In 1930 Evola founded his own periodical, La Torre (The Tower). La Torre, the heir to Krur, differed from the two earlier publications Ur and Krur in the following way, as was announced in an editorial insert:

"Our Activity in 1930 – To the Readers: Krur is transforming. Having fulfilled the tasks relative to the technical mastery of esotericism we proposed for ourselves three years ago, we have accepted the invitation to transfer our action to a vaster, more visible, more immediate field: the very plane of Western 'culture' and the problems that, in this moment of crisis, afflict both individual and mass consciousness […] for all these reasons Krur will be changed to the title La Torre (The Tower), a work of diverse expressions and one Tradition."[7]

La Torre was attacked by official fascist bodies such as L’Impero and Anti-Europa, and publication of La Torre ceased after only ten issues. Evola also contributed an article entitled Fascism as Will to Imperium and Christianity to the review Critica Fascista, edited by Evola's old friend Giuseppi Bottai. Here again he launches vociferous opposition to Christianity and attests to its negative effects, evident in the rise of a pious, hypocritical, and greedy middle class lacking in all superior solar virtues that Evola attributed to ancient Rome. The article did not pass unnoticed and was vigorously attacked in many Italian periodicals. It was also the subject of a long article in the prestigious Revue Internationale des Sociétés Secrètes (Partie Occultiste) for April 1928, under the title Un Sataniste Italien: Jules Evola.

 

Coupled with the notoriety of Evola's La Torre, was also another, more bizarre incident involving the Ur Group's reputation, and their attempts to form a "magical chain." Although these attempts to exert supernatural influence on others were soon abandoned, a rumour quickly developed that the group had wished to kill Mussolini by these means. Evola describes this event in his autobiography Il Cammino del Cinabro.

"Someone reported this argument [that the death of a head of state might be brought about by magic] and some yarn about our already dissolved 'chain of Ur' may also have been added, all of which led the Duce to think that there was a plot to use magic against him. But when he heard the true facts of the matter, Mussolini ceased all action against us. In reality Mussolini was very open to suggestion and also somewhat superstitious (the reaction of a mentality fundamentally incapable of true spirituality). For example, he had a genuine fear of fortune-tellers and any mention of them was forbidden in his presence."

It was also during this period that Evola also discovered something which was to become a profound influence on many his ideas: the lost science of Hermeticism. Though he undoubtedly came into contact with this branch of mysticism through Reghini and fellow members of Ur, it seems that Evola’s extraordinary knowledge of Hermeticism actually arose from another source. Jacopo da Coreglia writes that it was a priest, Father Francesco Olivia, who had made the most far-reaching progress in Hermetic science and – sensing a prodigious student – granted Evola access to documents that were usually strictly reserved for adepts of the narrow circle. These were concerned primarily with the teachings of the Fraternity of Myriam (Fratellanza Terapeutica Magica di Myriam), founded by Doctor Giuliano Kremmerz, pseudonym of Ciro Formisano (1861-1930). Evola mentions in The Hermetic Tradition that Myriam’s Pamphlet D laid the groundwork for his understanding of the four elements.[8]  Evola’s knowledge of Hermeticism and the alchemical arts was not limited to Western sources either, for he also knew an Indian alchemist by the name of C.S. Narayana Swami Aiyar of Chingleput.[9] During this era of history, Indian alchemy was almost completely unknown to the Western world, and it is only in modern times that it has been studied in relation to the occidental texts.

 

M is for Mussolini (not Murder)

 

In 1926 Evola published an article in Ultra (the newspaper of the Theosophical Lodge in Rome) on the cult of Mithras in which he placed major emphasis on the similarities of these mysteries with Hermeticism.[10] During this period he also wrote Saggi sull’idealismo magico (1925; Essays on Magic Idealism), and L’individuo ed il divenire del mondo (1926; The Individual and the Becoming of the World). This article was to be followed by the publication of his treatise on alchemy, La Tradizione ermetica (The Hermetic Tradition). Such was the scope and depth of this work that Karl Jung even quoted Evola to support his own contention that "the alchemical opus deals in the main not just with chemical experiments as such, but also with something resembling psychic processes expressed in pseudo-chemical language."[11] Unfortunately, the support expressed by Jung was not mutual, for Evola did not accept Jung's hypothesis that alchemy was merely a psychic process.

 

Taking issue with René Guénon's (1886-1951) view that spiritual authority ranks higher than royal power, Evola wrote L’uomo come potenza (Man as power); in the third revised edition (1949), the title was changed to Lo yoga della potenza (The yoga of power).[12] This was Evola's treatise of Hindu Tantra, for which he consulted primary sources on Kaula Tantra, which at the time were largely unknown in the Western world. Decio Calvari, president of the Italian Independent Theosophical League, introduced Evola to the study of Tantrism.[13] Evola was also granted access to authentic Tantric texts directly from the Kaula school of Tantrism via his association with Sir John Woodroofe, who was not only a respected scholar, but was also a Tantric practitioner himself, under the famous pseudonym of Arthur Avalon. A substantial proportion of The Yoga of Power is derived from Sir John Woodroofe's personal notes on Kaula Tantrism. Even today Woodroofe is regarded as a leading pioneer in the early research of Tantrism.

 

Evola's opinion that the royal or Ksatriya path in Tantrism outranks that of the Brahmanic or priestly path, is readily supported by the Tantric texts themselves, in which the Vira or active mode of practice is exalted above that of the priestly mode in Kaula Tantrism. In this regard, the heroic or solar path of Tantrism represented to Evola, a system based not on theory, but on practice – an active path appropriate to be taught in the degenerate epoch of the Hindu Kali Yuga or Dark Age, in which purely intellectual or contemplative paths to divinity have suffered a great decrease in their effectiveness.

 

In the words of Evola himself:

"During the last years of the 1930s I devoted myself to working on two of my most important books on Eastern wisdom: I completely revised L’uomo come potenza (Man As Power), which was given a new title, Lo yoga della potenza (The Yoga of Power), and wrote a systematic work concerning primitive Buddhism entitled La dottrina del risveglio (The Doctrine of Awakening)."[14]

Evola's work on the early history of Buddhism was published in 1943. The central theme of this work is not the common view of Buddhism, as a path of spiritual renunciation – instead it focuses on the Buddha's role as a Ksatriya ascetic, for it was to this caste that he belonged, as is found in early Buddhist records.

 

The historical Siddharta was a prince of the Śakya, a kṣatriya (belonging to the warrior caste), an "ascetic fighter" who opened a path by himself with his own strength. Thus Evola emphasizes the "aristocratic" character of primitive Buddhism, which he defines as having the "presence in it of a virile and warrior strength (the lion's roar is a designation of Buddha’s proclamation) that is applied to a nonmaterial and atemporal plane…since it transcends such a plane, leaving it behind." [15]

 

Siddharta's warrior youth.

 

The book considered by many to be Evola’s masterpiece, Revolt Against the Modern World was published in 1934, and was influenced by Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West (1918) and René Guénon's The Crisis of the Modern World (1927), both of which had been previously translated into Italian by Evola. Spengler's contribution in this regard was the plurality of civilizations, which then fell into patterns of birth, growth and decline. This was combined with Guénon's ideas on the "Dark Age" or Hindu Kali Yuga, which similarly portrays a bleak image of civilizations in decline. The work also draws upon the writings of Bachofen in regards to the construction of a mythological grounding for the history of civilizations. The original version of Julius Evola's The Mystery of the Grail formed an appendix to the first edition of Rivolta contra il mondo moderno, and as such is closely related to this work.[16]  Three years later he reworked that appendix into the present book, which first appeared as part of a series of religious and esoteric studies published by the renowned Laterza Publishers in Italy, whose list included works by Sigmund Freud, Richard Wilhelm, and C. G. Jung, among others. In this book Evola writes three main premises concerning the Grail myths: That the Grail is not a Christian Mystery, but a Hyperborean one, that it is a mystery tradition, and that it deals with a restoration of sacred regality. Evola describes his work on the Grail in the epilogue to the first edition (1937).

"To live and understand the symbol of the Grail in its purity would mean today the awakening of powers that could supply a transcendental point of reference for it, an awakening that could show itself tomorrow, after a great crisis, in the form of an “epoch that goes beyond nations.” It would also mean the release of the so-called world revolution from the false myths that poison it and that make possible its subjugation through dark, collectivistic, and irrational powers. In addition, it would mean understanding the way to a true unity that would be genuinely capable of going beyond not only the materialistic – we could say Luciferian and Titanic – forms of power and control but also the lunar forms of the remnants of religious humility and the current neospiritualistic dissipation."[17]

Another of Evola’s books, Eros and the Mysteries of Love, could almost be seen as a continuation of his experimentation with Tantrism. Indeed, the book does not deal with the erotic principle in the normal of sense of the word, but rather approaches the topic as a highly conceptualized interplay of polarities, adopted from the Traditional use of erotic elements in eastern and western mysticism and philosophy. Thus what is described here is the path to sacred sexuality, and the use of the erotic principle to transcend the normal limitations of consciousness. Evola describes his book in the following passage:

"But in this study, metaphysics will also have a second meaning, one that is not unrelated to the world's origin since 'metaphysics' literally means the science of that which goes beyond the physical. In our research, this 'beyond the physical' will not cover abstract concepts or philosophical ideas, but rather that which may evolve from an experience that is not merely physical, but transpsychological and transphysiological. We shall achieve this through the doctrine of the manifold states of being and through an anthropology that is not restricted to the simple soul-body dichotomy, but is aware of 'subtle' and even transcendental modalities of human consciousness. Although foreign to contemporary thought, knowledge of this kind formed an integral part of ancient learning and of the traditions of varied peoples."[18]

Another of Evola's major works is Meditations Among the Peaks, wherein mountaineering is equated to ascension. This idea is found frequently in a number of Traditions, where mountains are often revered as an intermediary between the forces of heaven and earth. Evola was an accomplished mountaineer and completed some difficult climbs such as the north wall of the Eastern Lyskam in 1927. He also requested in his will that after his death the urn containing his ashes be deposited in a glacial crevasse on Mount Rosa.

 

Evola's main political work was Men Among the Ruins. This was to be the ninth of Evola's books to published in English. Written at the same time as Men Among the Ruins, Evola composed Ride the Tiger which is complementary to this work, even though it was not published until 1961. These books belong together and cannot really be judged separately. Men among the Ruins shows the universal standpoint of ideal politics; Riding the Tiger deals with the practical "existential" perspective for the individual who wants to preserve his "hegomonikon" or inner sovereignty.[19]  Ride the Tiger is essentially a philosophical set of guidelines entwining various strands of his earlier thought into a single work. Underlying the more obvious sources, which Evola cites within the text, such as Nietzsche, Sartre and Heidegger, there are also connections with Hindu thoughts on the collapse of civilization and the Kali Yuga. In many ways, this work is the culmination of Evola's thought on the role of Tradition in the Age of Darkness – that the Traditional approach advocated in the East is to harness the power of the Kali Yuga, by ‘Riding the Tiger’ – which is also a popular Tantric saying. To this extent, it is not an approach of withdrawal from the modern world which Evola advocates, but instead achieving a mastery of the forces of darkness and materialism inherent in the Kali Yuga. Similarly, his attitude to politics alters here from that expressed in Men Among the Ruins, calling instead for a type of individual that is apoliteia.

"[...] this type can only feel disinterested and detached from everything that is 'politics' today. His principle will become apoliteia, as it was called in ancient times. [...] Apoliteia is the distance unassailable by this society and its 'values'; it does not accept being bound by anything spiritual or moral."[20]

In addition to Evola’s main corpus of texts mentioned previously, he also published numerous other works such as The Way of the Samurai, The Path of Enlightenment According to the Mithraic Mysteries, Il Cammino del Cinabro, Taoism: The Magic, The Mysticism and The Bow and the Club. He also translated Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West, as well as the principle works of Bachofen, Guénon, Weininger and Gabriel Marcel.

 

In 1945 Evola was hit by a stray bomb and paralyzed from the waist downwards. He died on June 11, 1974 in Rome. He had asked to be led from his desk to the window from which one could see the Janiculum (the holy hill sacred to Janus, the two-faced god who gazes into this and the other world), to die in an upright position. After his death the body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in a glacier atop Mount Rosa, in accordance with his wishes.

Gwendolyn Taunton is the editor and sole founder of Primordial Traditions. This article is reprinted from Primordial Traditions (second edition).


NOTES

[1] Julius Evola, The Yoga of Power, Shakti, and the Secret Way (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1992) ix
[2] ibid., x
[3] Julius Evola, Introduction to Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001) ix
[4] ibid., xvii
[5] A. James Gregor, Mussolini's Intellectuals (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005)
[6] ibid., 201
[7] Julius Evola, Introduction to Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001) xxi
[8] Julius Evola, The Hermetic Tradition: Symbols and Teaching of the Royal Art (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1992) ix
[9] ibid., ix
[10] ibid., viii
[11] Julius Evola, The Yoga of Power, Shakti, and the Secret Way (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1992) xii
[12] ibid., xiv
[13] ibid., xiii
[14] Julius Evola, The Doctrine of the Awakening: The Attainment of Self-Mastery According to the Earliest Buddhist Texts (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1992) xi
[15] ibid., xv
[16] Julius Evola, The Mystery of the Grail: Initiation and Magic in the Quest for the Spirit (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1997) vii
[17] ibid., ix
[18] Julius Evola, Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1991) 2
[19] Julius Evola, Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2003) 89
[20] Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for Aristocrats of the Soul (Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2003) 174-175

Conversación sin complejos con el "Último Gibelino"

Tradición y Sabiduría Universal

Conversación sin complejos con el "Último Gibelino":

Julius Evola

entrevista de Enrico de Boccard

Ex: http://paginatransversal.wordpress.com

La Página Transversal recoge este texto, publicado en su día por la ya desaparecida, pero siempre recomendable revista de Fernando Márquez, El Zurdo, "El Corazón del Bosque", en su número doble 16/17 (Otoño 97 - Invierno 98), por su indudable interés. Cuestiones tales como: sexo, psicoanálisis, satanismo, contestación y otras, tratadas desde la particular cosmovisión de Julius Evola (1898-1974).

La presente entrevista, rescatada por nuestro colaborador Gianni Donaudi (que también nos ha facilitado unos datos de introducción), se publicó en la revista erótico/intelectual "PLAYMEN" en enero del 70. "PLAYMEN" era propiedad de la edirtora Adelina Tattilo, políticamente cercana al PSI/PSU, quien, apoyándose en el radicalizante Attilio Battistini como director de la publicación, buscó (al menos en el plano cultural) dar amplio espacio a autores de muy diferente tendencia política e ideológica.

Eran los años de la contestación y, tras el espontaneísmo inicial del 68, donde los enemigos principales eran el capitalismo, el consumismo (según la definición de Marcuse y Fromm) y el dominio americano sobre el planeta, se llegó, a través de infiltrados demoliberales (a veces situados por los mismos americanos) a reducir la lucha contestataria en términos exclusivamente "antifascistas", colocando el anticapitalismo en un segundo plano (como lúcidamente analizaban las publicaciones de signo internacionalista y bordiguista). Una estrategia que dura hasta hoy, sobre todo gracias a la obra de la izquierda chic, virtual, políticamente correcta.

A pesar de esto, Adelina Tattilo, en coherencia con su radicalismo extremo, no sólo aceptó la entrevista con Evola sino que se enorgullecía de la misma, por protagonirala alguien que sabía escribir, sin importar su procedencia.

El periodista que entrevistó a Evola fue Enrico de Boccard (1921-1981)quien, también para "PLAYMEN", había escrito una hermosa semblanza sobre Céline. Boccard era un ex-oficial de la Guardia Nacional Republicana (de Saló) y fue autor del libro, en parte autobiográfico, Donne e mitra (reeditado recientemente con el título Le donne non ci vogliono piu bene. Por cierto,Boccard no fue el único vinculado a la República Social Italiana que colaboró con "PLAYMEN". También lo hicieron Giose Rimanelli, autor de Tiro al piccione (obra adaptada al cine en el 61 por el director filosocialista Giuliano Montaldo -autor, entre otros films, de Sacco e Vanzetti y Giordano Bruno-), que en la postguerra se acercaría a los comunistas y más tarde involucionaría a la derecha; y Mario Gandini, autor de La caduta di Varsavia (obra sobre sus recuerdos de guerra en el Este y la RSI).

Por razones de espacio, hemos seleccionado los fragmentos que consideramos más interesantes y válidos según la perspectiva corazonesca, y como toque metalingüístico quasi felliniano (habida cuenta de buena parte de la temática de la entrevista), resulta procedente señalar la publicidad que la acompañaba: un vibrador ("novitá della Svezia" en dos modelos -con una y dos velocidades-), un catálogo ilustrado de productos estimulantes (escribir a la empresa sueca "Ekberg Int.") y unos potingues vigorizantes (incluido el, por entonces, mítico Gerovital de la doctora rumana Aslan, así como polen -también "della Svezia"- ideal para... los males de próstata-).

En el último piso de un viejo edificio del centro de Roma vive su intensa jornada uno de los últimos hombres verdaderamente libres en un tiempo en que la libertad se ha convertido en un lujo que se paga cada día, personal y colectivamente, siempre más caro. Este hombre, que ha sobrepasado no hace mucho los setenta años de una existencia riquísima en experiencias intelectuales, artísticas y personales, marcado contsantemente por el signo del más declarado y valeroso anticonformismo, tiene un nombre de resonancia mundial, pese a que la llamada "cultura oficial" italiana, tanto en el Ventennio fascista como después, siempre ha procurado por todos los medios de sofocarlo con una impenetrable cortina de silencio. Este hombre es el filósofo y escritor Julius Evola, autor de unos treinta libros nada superfluos, "revolucionario conservador" por temperamento y por trayectoria. Julius Evola: un aristócrata del espíritu más que de la sangre, que gusta definirse a sí mismo como "el Último Gibelino".

Pregunta - Es bien conocido que usted concede raramente entrevistas y le agradecemos, en nombre de nuestros lectores, por el privilegio gentilmente concedido. Por otra parte, usted es un escritor, un estudioso dotado de tal doctrina y preparación, y con tal bagaje de experiencias que nos encontramos un poco embarazados en el momento de plantearle preguntas, las cuales son tantas en nuestra mente como vasto es el campo de sus intereses (metafísica, crítica de la política, historia de las religiones, orentalismo, etc.). Trataremos de restringirnos a los argumentos que consideramos puedan interesar más a los lectores de la revista o que presenten un carácter de actualidad. Empecemos con una obra, recientemente reeditada (y también con dos ediciones francesas y otra alemana), sistemática y sugestiva, Metafísica del sexo (hay edición en castellano). Usted precisa, a propósito del título, haber usado el término "metafísica" en un doble sentido. ¿Puede aclararnos esto? Respuesta - El primer sentido es el corriente en filosofía, donde por metafísica se entiende una búsqueda de los principios o significados últimos. Una metafísica del sexo será, por tanto, el estudio de lo que, desde un punto de vista absoluto, significa el eros y la atracción de los sexos. En segundo lugar, por metafísica se puede entender una exploración en el campo de lo que no es físico, de lo que está más allá de lo físico. Es unpunto esencial de mi búsqueda el sacar a la luz lo que el eros y la experiencia del sexo supone de trascendencia de los aspectos físicos, carnales, biológicos y también pasionales o convencionalmente sentimentales o "ideales" del amor. Esta dimensión más profunda fue considerada en otro tiempo, en múltiples tradiciones, y constituye el presupuesto para un posible uso "sacro", místico, mágico y evocatorio del sexo; pero ello también influye en muchos actos del amor profano, revelándose a través de una variedad de signos que yo he tratado de individuar sistemáticamente. En mi libro señalo también cómo hoy, en una inversió quasidemoníaca, cierto psicoanálisis resalta una primordialidad infrapersonal del sexo, y opongo a esta primordialidad otra, de carácter "metafísico" o trascendente, pero no por esto menos real y elemental, de la que la anterior sería la degradación propia de un tipo humano inferior.

P - Usted también ha afrontado el problema del sexo sobre el terreno de la costumbre y de la ética, y siempre de manera anticonformista. ¿Qué piensa, por tanto, de lo que hoy se denomina "revolución sexual"?

R - A mí, qué cosa significa esta "revolución" no lo veo nada claro. Parece que se busca la absoluta libertad sexual, la completa superación de toda represión social sexófoba y de toda inhibición interna. Pero aquí hay un gravísimo malentendido, debido a las instancias llamadas "democráticas". Una libertad semejante no puede reivindicarse para todos: solamente pocos se la pueden permitir, no por privilegio sino porque, para no ser destructiva, hace falta una personalidad bien formada. En particular, el problema debe ser situado en modo distinto para el hombre y para la mujer, insisto, no por prejuicio sino por el distinto significado que la experiencia erótica, la auténtica e intensa, tiene para la mujer. Justamente Nietzsche había indicado que la "corrupción" (aquí, la "libertad sexual") puede ser un argumento sólo para quien no puede permitírsela, por ejemplo, para quienes no pueden hacer suyo el principio de querer sólo las cosas a las cuales también son capaces de renunciar.

La "revolución sexual" en clave democrática comporta, pues, una consecuencia gravísima, hacer del sexo una especie de género corriente, de consumo de masas, lo que significa necesariamente banalizarlo, superficializarlo, acabando en un insípido "naturalismo". En otro libro mío, "L´Arco e la Clava" ("El Arco y la Clava", existe traducción al castellano), he mostrado cómo las nuevas reivindicaciones sexuales son paralelas a una concepción siempre más primitiva de la sensualidad por parte de sus principales teóricos, a partir de Reich. Un caso particular es la falta de pudor femenina, vinculada con similares propuestas antirepresivas. A fuerza de ver mujeres desnudas o casi en espectáculos teatrales y cinematográficos, en locales porno, en top-less, etc, este desnudo acaba por convertirse en una banalidad que poco a poco dejará de producir efecto, al margen de los directamente dictados por el primitivo impulso biológico. Este impudor debería ser despreciado no desde el punto de vista de la "virtud" sino del exactamente opuesto. Por ese camino se puede llegar a un resultado de "naturalidad" e indiferencia sexual mucho mayor al soñado por cualquier sociedad puritana. (...)

P - De su exposición, parece que su juicio sobre el psicoanálisis sea negativo (...)

R - Evidentemente que no puedo profundizar exhaustivamente en esta argumentación. Pero sí señalaré que ante todo ha de relativizarse la idea de que el psicoanálisis descubre por vez primera la dimensión subterránea del Yo, el subconsciente y el inconsciente psíquico. Ya antes de Freud la psicología occidental, conectada con la fenomenología de la hipnosis y del histerismo, había prestado atención sobre este "subsuelo" del alma. Bastante más profundamente, y en muy diversa amplitud, ello estaba considerado en Oriente desde siglos, gracias al Yoga y técnicas análogas. El psicoanálisis puede ser una psicoterapia, y ofrecer resultados singulares en un plano clínico especializado. Pero no más: en su esncia es una concepción absolutamente desviada y mutilada del ser humano. Al colocar la verdadera fuerza motriz del hombre sobre el plano del inconsciente infrapersonal e instintivo, Freud concretamente bajo el signo de la libido, niega la existencia de un superior principio consciente, autónomo y soberano, porque en su lugar pone cualquier cosa del exterior, el llamado SuperYo, que sería una construcción social y el producto de la asunción de formas inhibitorias creadas por el ambiente o las estructuras sociales. Ello equivale a decir que el psicoanálisis niega en el hombre lo que lo hace verdaderamente tal, y su imagen, la cual querría aplicar al hombre de manera genérica, o es una mixtificación o vale únicamente para un tipo humano dividido, neurótico, espiritualmente inconsistente. Es bien posible que el éxito del psicoanálisis sea debido a la gran difusión que en la época moderna ha tenido este tipo. Como praxis y como tendencia, el psicoanálisis propicia esencialmente aperturas hacia abajo y significa una capitulación más o menos explícita de todo lo que es verdadera personalidad. La posible existencia de un "superconsciente", opuesto al "inconsciente", luminoso frente a lo turbio y "elemental" es ignorada por completo. (...)

P - Ha mencionado antes a Wilhelm Reich. Queremos conocer su opinión sobre su persona y su obra. ¿Reich le parece un estudioso serio o un exaltado? ¿Y qué piensa de las aplicaciones de los principios de él y de sus seguidores en el plano sociológico y político/sociológico, de sus denuncias de los sistemas "autoritarios"?

R - Reich me parece afectado por una variedad de paranoia. Su mérito es haber intuido que en el sexo existe algo trascendente, más allá de lo individual. Ello concuerda con las enseñanzas de múltiples tradiciones. pero esta intuición está muy desviada. No debe decirse que el sexo es algo trascendente, sino que en ello se manifiesta (potencialmente y en ciertas circunstancias, incluso hoy día) algo trascendente, que como tal no pertenece al plano físico. Este elemento Reich lo concibe en términos materialistas como una energía natural, como la electricidad o algo así, al punto que, como "energía orgónica", ha buscado dotarla (gastando verdaderos capitales) de sustancia física, construyendo finalmente "condensadores" de la misma. Todo esto no son sino divagaciones. A lo que hemos de añadir una "teoría de la salvación", en cuanto que Reich ve en la obstrucción de dicha energía la cuas de todos los males, individuales y sociales (hasta el mismo cáncer) y, en su completa y desenfrenada explicación, el orgasmo sexual integral como una especie de medicina universal, presupuesto para un orden social sin tensiones, armonioso, pacífico.

Es interesante detenernos un momento sobre el presupuesto de esta concepción, porque así podremos comprender las aplicaciones político/sociales de los reichianos. Freud en su madurez había admitido la existencia, junto al impulso de placer, la libido, de un opuesto, el instinto de destrucción (o "de muerte"). Reich niega esta dualidad y deduce el segundo instinto, el destructivo, del impulso único de placer. Cuando este instinto resulta impedido o "bloqueado", nacería una tensión, una angustia y sobre todo una especie de "rabia", de furia destructiva (en caso de no tomar la vía del "principio del nirvana": una evasión, una fuga de la vida). Este impulso destructivo (y agresivo) cuando se vuelve contra sí, da al hombre la orientación masoquista, y cuando se dirige a los otros, al orientación sádica.

De todo ello resulta en primer lugar que sadismo y masoquismo serían fenómenos patológicos, causados por la represión sexual. Lo que es una estupidez: existen ciertamente formas de sadismo y masoquismo vinculadas a la psicopatología sexual (según el concepto normal, no ya psicoanalítico), pero también existe un sadismo (masculino) y un masoquismo (femenino) como elementos constitucionales intrínsecos y en un cierto modo normales en toda experiencia erótica intensa. De hecho, esta experiencia tiene siempre algo de destructivo y autodestructivo (por las relaciones, múltiplemente demostradas, entre voluntad y muerte, entre la divinidad del amor y la divinidad de la muerte); y es en este aspecto que se piensa cuando, en ciertas escuelas, se cree que el clímax adecuadamente conducido puede tener, en su momento "fulgurante", algo que destruye por un momento los límites de la conciencia mortal individual. Pues bien, con la concepción de Reich, toda esta intensidad desaparece, y la consecuencia es una concepción pálida, blandamente dionisíaca, o idílica (como en Marcuse) de la sexualidad: es una de las paradojas de la llamada "revolución sexual".

No menos absurda es, en particular, la deducción de la agresividad por la inhibición del impulso primordial del sexo a cristalizar en un orgasmo completo, según la cual, cuando la obstrucción remite (en el individuo o en una sociedad "permisiva" y no "represiva" o "patriarcal") no habrá más agresividad, guerra, violencia, etc; lo que viene al mismo tiempo a decir que todo lo que hace referencia a actitudes guerreras, de conquista (en la jerga moderna, de "agresión") tendrñia la represión sexual por causa y origen. Ante esto, sólo puedo reír. La actitud agresiva es en primer lugar comprobada en los animales, evidentemente no sometidos a tabúes sexófobos y "patriarcales". En segundo lugar ya el mito ha indicado el perfecto acuerdo entre Marte y Venus, y la historia nos muestra como todos los más grandes conquistadores carecían de complejos de frustración sexual y hacían un libre y amplío uso del sexo. En la práctica, la consecuencia de la teoría de Reich es un ataque contra elementos fundamentales congénitos en todo tipo "viril" de humanidad o ser humano, que son presentados grotescamente en clave de patología sexual.

En cuanto a las conclusiones político/sociales. Proyectada sobre ese plano, la tendencia masoquista daría lugar al tipo del gregario, de aquel que gusta de servir y obedecer, que se pone al servicio de un jefe, con o sin "culto a la personalidad", y está siempre dispuesto a sacrificarse. La tendencia sádica daría lugar al tipo del dominador, de quien ejercita una autoridad, autoridad evidentemente concebida en los exclusivos términos parasexuales de una libido. De la unión de estas dos tendencias nacerían las estructuras "autoritarias" y "fascistas". Una vez más, se deforman grotescamente los datos reales de la conciencia. Del obedecer y del mandar pueden darse desviaciones. Pero, en general, se trata de disposiciones normales: existe una autoridad que tiene por contrapartida una superioridad, como existe una obediencia debida no a un servilismo masoquista sino al orgullo de seguir libremente a gentes a quienes se reconoce una superioridad. Así, mientras por un parte Reich proclama una mística mesiánica del abandono integral al orgasmo, al mismo tiempo ello actúa como preciosas coartadas para un puro anarquismo.

P - En relación con el asesinato de la actriz Sharon Tate y otros se ha hablado de "satanismo" y en los periódicos hoy se insiste en buscar conexiones entre sexo, magia y satanismo. ¿Nos puede aclarar esto?

R - En principio, existen conexiones posibles entre magia y sexo. Considerando la dimensión "trascendente" del sexo, a la que ya me he referido, se recoge en diversas tradiciones que por medio de la unión sexual conducida de determinado modo y con una orientación particular es posible destilar energías y usarlas mágicamente. La continuidad de estas tradiciones hasta un tiempo relativamente reciente es testimoniada, entre otros, en un libro, Magia sexualis de P. B. Randolph. Un ejemplo ulterior lo constituyen las prácticas mágico/sexuales y orgiásticas de Aleister Crowley, figura interesante que, por desgracia, se suele presentar con los colores más "negros" posibles. Pero en este campo se debe distinguir entre las mixtificaciones y lo que tiene un valor auténtico y una realidad. Ante todo ha de verse, por ejemplo, si se hace el amor para hacer magia o si se hace magia (o pseudomagia) para hacer el amor, o sea, si se usa la magia como un pretexto para montar orgías o para darle al acto un aire más excitante. Es cierto también que existe una tercera posibilidad, la de usar medios siríamos "secretos" con el concurso de fuerzas suprasensibles para dar un particular desarrollo paroxístico a la experiencia del coito, sin forzar por ello la naturaleza: esta vía es algo extremadamente peligroso, por razones que no viene al caso indicar ahora.

En cuanto al "satanismo" señalaré que donde predomina un clima "sexófobo" (como en el cristianismo) es fácil calificar de "diabólico" todo lo que suponga potenciar la experiencia sexual. Más genéricamente, es obvio que un "satán" existe sólo en las religiones donde ello es la contraparte "oscura" de un Dios con características "morales"; cuando como vértice del universo, en vez de Dios, se pone una "Potestad" como tal superior y más allá del bien y del mal, evidentemente un "Satán" a la cristiana no es concebible. Hay lugar sólo para la idea de una fuerza cósmica destructora, presente en el mundo y en la vida, en lo sensible y lo suprasensible, al lado de las fuerzas creadoras y conservadoras, como la "otra mitad" del Absoluto. Y existen tradicones sacras -la más característica es la tántrico/shivaica- que tienen por objeto asumir esa fuerza, diversamente concebida. Característica es la llamada "Vía de la Mano Izquierda", donde, por ejemplo, el uso de la mujer, de sustancias embriagadoras y eventualmente de la orgía, se asocia a una moral del "más allá del bien y del mal" que haría palidecer de envidia al "superhombre" Nietzsche. De dicha vía, que algunos timoratos occidentales han calificado como la "peor de las magias negras" he hablado en mi libro Lo Yoga della Potenza. Pero el punto importante es que en sus formas auténticas tales prácticas están concebidas en los mismos términos del Yoga, y no son elementos disociados, como los hippies americanos, quienes pueden permitírselas. Volvemos aquí, pero aumentadas, a poner las mismas reservas que he hecho acerca de la "revolución sexual" y sus reivindicaciones. En las tradiciones la base para darse a estas prácticas está constituida por una disciplina de autodominio profundo similar a la de los ascetas, tras una regular "iniciación".

P - Pasando a un campo distinto pero en parte relacionado, me llama la atención cómo en algunos libros históricos o pseudohistóricos sobre el III Reich hitleriano se habla de un fondo oculto, mágico/tenebroso, del nacionalsocialismo alemán. ¿Puede decime brevemente qué le parece este argumento?

R - Para quien busque los supuestos trasfondos "ocultos" del III Reich, el argumento me llevaría más allá de los límites en los cuales estoy manteniendo esta entrevista. Me limitaré a decir que, como persona que ha tenido oportunidad de conocer bastante de cerca la situación del III Reich, puedo declarar que se trata de puras fantasías, y así se lo dije a Louis Pauwels, quien en su libro El retorno de los brujos ha contribuido a defender tales rumores; él vino una vez a conocerme, hablamos y en ningún momento me presentó dato alguno mínimamente serio que apoyase su tesis. Se puede hablar no de "iniciático" sino de "demoniaco", en un sentido general, en el caso de todo movimiento que en base a una fanatización de las masas creer cualquier cosa cuyo centro será el jefe demagógico que produce esta especie de hipnosis colectiva usando tal o cual mito. Dicho fenómeno no está relacionado con lo "mágico" o con lo "oculto", aunque tenga un fondo tenebroso. Es un fenómeno recurrente en la Historia, por ejemplo, la Revolución Francesa o (en parte) el maoísmo.

P - Usted es autor de una obra considerada como fundamental por cuantos siguen atentamente su actividad, Revuelta contra el mundo moderno. Se afirma por muchos que usted, con este libro (publicado por vez primera en 1934), anticipó en varios lustros las visiones, hoy tan en boga, expresadas por Marcuse. En otras palabras, desde posiciones absolutamente distintas a la del profesor germano/americano, usted habría sido el primero en tomar postura contra "el sistema". ¿Le parece válida esta comparación con Marcuse? Y, de otra parte, ¿dado el papel que Marcuse tiene en las actuales formas de "contestación" juvenil contra el mundo moderno, qué significado y qué imagen tiene para usted este movimiento contestatario?

R - En verdad, como precedentes de Marcuse, y planteando cosas bastante más interesantes, muchos otros autores deberían ser nombrados: un Tocqueville, un John Stuart Mill, un A. Siegfried, el mismo Donoso Cortés, en parte Ortega y Gasset, sobre todo Nietzsche, y aún más el insigne escritor tradicionalista francés René Guenón, especialmente en su Crisis del mundo moderno que yo traduje al italiano en su momento. A finales del siglo pasado Nietzsche había previsto uno de los rasgos destacados de las tesis de Marcuse, con las breves, incisivas frases dedicadas al "último hombre": "próximo está el tiempo del más despreciable de los hombres, que no sabe más que despreciarse a sí mismo", "el último hombre de la raza pululante y tenaz", "nosotros hemos inventado la felicidad, dicen, satisfechos, los últimos hombres", que han abandonado "la región donde la vida es dura". Y esta es la esencia de la "civilización de masas, del consumo y del bienestar" pero también la única que el mismo Marcuse ve como perspectiva en términos positivos, cuando los desarrollos ulteriores de la técnica unidos a una cultura de transposición y sublimación de los instintos habrán sustraído a los hombres de los "condicionamientos" del actual sistema y de su "principio de prestación". La relación con mi libro no es tal porque, en primer lugar, el contenido de éste no corresponde con el título: no es mi obra de naturaleza polémica, sino una "morfología de la civilización", una interpretación general de la Historia en términos no "progresistas", de evolución, sino más bien de involución, indicando sobre estas premisas el nacimiento y el declive del mundo moderno. Sólo por caminos naturales y consecuentes se propone una "revuelta" a los lectores y, más concretamente, tras un estudio comparado de las más diversas civilizaciones, he procurado indicar lo que en diversos dominios de la existencia puede reivindicar un carácter de norma en sentido ascendente: el Estado, la ley, la acción, la concepción de la vida y de la muerte, lo sagrado, las relaciones sociales, la ética, el sexo, la guerra, etc. Esta es la primera diferencia fundamental respecto a las diversas contestaciones de hoy: no se limita a decir "no", sino que indica en nombre de qué debe decirse "no", aquello que puede verdaderamente justificar el "no". Y un "no" auténticamente radical, que no se restrinja a los aspectos últimos del mundo moderno, a la "sociedad de consumo", a la tecnocracia y demás, sino mucho más profundo, denunciando las causas, considerando los procesos que han ejercido desde hace tanto tiempo una acción destructiva sobre todos los valores, ideales y formas de organización superior de la existencia. Todo esto ni Marcuse ni los "contestatarios" en general lo han hecho: no tienen la capacidad ni el coraje. En particular, la sociología de Marcuse es absolutamente rechazable, determinada por un grosero freudismo con tonalidades reichianas. Así, no resulta extraño que sean tan escuálidos e insípidos los ideales que se proponen para la sociedad que siga a la "contestación" y a la superación del llamado "sistema".

Naturalmente, quien comprenda el orden de ideas expuesto en mi libro no puede permitirse el menor optimismo. Por ahora encuentro solamente posible una acción de defensa individual interior. Es así que en otro libro mío, Cabalgar el tigre, he procurado señalar las orientaciones existenciales que debería seguir un tipo humano diferenciado en una época de disolución como la actual. En él, he dado particular relieve al principo de la "conversión del veneno en medicina", según la medida en que, a partir de una cierta orientación interior, de experiencias y procesos mayormente destructivos se puede extraer cierta forma de liberación y autosuperación. Es una vía peligrosa pero posible. (...)

(entrevista: Enrico de Boccard)
(traducción: Fernando Márquez. Página "Linea de Sombra")

Nota de la Página Transversal:
Existen traducciones al castellano de todas las obras mencionadas en el texto.
Evola, Julius. Metafísica del sexo. Col. Sophia Perennis. José J. de Olañeta, Editor. Palma de Mallorca, 1997.
- El arco y la clava. Ediciones Heracles, Buenos Aires, 1999.
-El yoga tántrico. Un camino para la realización del cuerpo y el espíritu. Madrid, Edaf, 1991.
- Rebelión contra el mundo moderno. Ediciones Heracles, Buenos Aires, 1994.
- Cabalgar el tigre. Ediciones Heracles, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, 1999.
Guenon, René. La crisis del mundo moderno. Ed. Obelisco, Barcelona, 1987
Pauwels, Louis; Bergier, Jacques. El retorno de los brujos. Plaza & Janés, Barcelona, 1971.

Chaliand: le temps des héros

Cette anthologie, sans équivalent par son ampleur, offre un vaste aperçu des épopées, chants et récits les plus célèbres, contés ou écrits à travers les temps. De L’Épopée de Gilgamesh, la plus ancienne de l’histoire de l’humanité, aux Lusiades des avancées maritimes portugaises qui découvrirent des ” étoiles nouvelles “, elle retrace cinq mille ans de légendes et mythes fondateurs des civilisations : œuvres majeures comme Le Livre des rois (Perse) ou le Mahâbhârata (Inde), Le Dit des Heiké (Japon) et d’autres moins connues, issues de Russie, du Caucase, des Balkans, de Chine, du Vietnam, d’Orient ou d’Afrique. Le genre épique, que précèdent seulement les textes sacrés, se trouve à la source de la plupart des grandes littératures universelles. Création presque toujours anonyme, il relate, au sens propre, des faits dignes d’être contés. Conçu à des époques où la force physique et, d’une façon générale, les vertus martiales étaient à la fois hautement prisées et nécessaires, il est centré sur la figure du héros. Gratifié d’une naissance hors du commun, presque toujours doté d’une force surnaturelle ou bénéficiant de vertus magiques, le héros s’affirme à travers une série d’épreuves. Luttant contre le chaos, il restaure l’ordre et succombe de façon tragique. Tel est, si l’on s’en tient aux grandes lignes, le destin du héros épique. Il n’est pas étonnant que Gérard Chaliand, grand reporter, homme d’aventures et d’expériences fortes, se passionne de longue date pour la littérature épique. Son propre itinéraire n’a cessé de l’entraîner sur les grandes routes du monde, où il a croisé quelques-unes de ces figures héroïques dont ses lectures d’enfance lui avaient déjà donné un avant-goût.

Ex: http://zentropaville.tumblr.com

Kamikazes

L’opposition entre la culture occidentale prônant le libre arbitre et l’obligation de se donner la mort en mission commandée a ouvert la porte à l’irrationalité et au romantisme. Leur dernière nuit était un déchirement, mais tous ont su trouver la force de sourire avant le dernier vol. Kasuga Takeo (86 ans), dans une lettre au docteur Umeazo Shôzô, apporte un témoignage exceptionnel sur les dernières heures des kamikazes : « Dans le hall où se tenait leur soirée d’adieu la nuit précédant leur départ, les jeunes étudiants officiers buvaient du saké froid. Certains avalaient le saké en une gorgée, d’autres en engloutissaient une grande quantité. Ce fut vite le chaos. Il y en avait qui cassaient des ampoules suspendues avec leurs sabres. D’autres qui soulevaient les chaises pour casser les fenêtres et déchiraient les nappes blanches. Un mélange de chansons militaires et de jurons emplissaient l’air. Pendant que certains hurlaient de rage, d’autres pleuraient bruyamment. C’était leur dernière nuit de vie. Ils pensaient à leurs parents et à la femme qu’ils aimaient….Bien qu’ils fussent censés être prêts à sacrifier leur précieuse jeunesse pour l’empire japonais et l’empereur le lendemain matin, ils étaient tiraillés au-delà de toute expression possible…Tous ont décollé au petit matin avec le bandeau du soleil levant autour de la tête. Mais cette scène de profond désespoir a rarement été rapportée. »

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikazes, Fleurs de cerisier et Nationalismes, éditions Hermann, 2013, 580 p., 38 euros.

Ex: http://zentropaville.tumblr.com

Qu’est-ce que l’Imperium ?

Qu’est-ce que l’Imperium?

par Charles Mallet

Ex: http://lheurasie.hautetfort.com

 

Cela fait déjà quelques années que les milieux nationalistes et eurasiens, notamment au sein de la « Nouvelle Droite », se réapproprient la notion d’imperium comme moyen de la restauration/fondation et de la pérennité de l’Europe-Nation ou Europe-Puissance. Cette notion est souvent confondue avec celle d’ « Empire », pour la simple et bonne raison qu’elle en est étymologiquement la racine. Cependant, il conviendrait de clarifier ce qu’est l’imperium, afin d’en appréhender toutes les potentialités, qui dépassent la simple perspective d’un « empire » au sens commun du terme (c’est-à-dire au sens d’une structure politique supranationale).

 

Origine

 

La notion d’imperium prend corps dans l’Antiquité romaine, plus précisément à l’époque républicaine (schématiquement comprise entre 509 et 31 av. J.-C.). Etymologiquement, il vient d’« ordonner », « préparer pour ». Il s’agit d’un pouvoir souverain délégué aux consuls, préteurs et à certains gouverneurs de province, par les dieux dont la volonté était censée se manifester au travers du peuple dans le vote des assemblées (élisant les magistrats). L’imperium est donc un pouvoir souverain (c’est-à-dire ne reconnaissant pas de supérieur temporel) d’ordonner et de juger, symbolisé par les faisceaux (haches entourées de verges portées par les licteurs).

 

Le titulaire d’un imperium pouvait être désigné sous le terme d’imperator (chef militaire victorieux –souvent consul-, ayant droit à ce titre à un triomphe à Rome). Sous la République, l’imperium était néanmoins un pouvoir limité dans le temps et dans l’espace. De plus, il subissait la concurrence d’autres pouvoirs comme la puissance tribunicienne (tribunitia potestas rendant sacrosainte la personne des tribuns chargés de représenter et de défendre la Plèbe de Rome). Les guerres civiles de la fin de la République (de 88 à 31 av. J.-C.), voyant différents imperatores se disputer l’exclusivité de l’imperium (Marius, Sylla, César, Pompée, Octave-Auguste, Antoine)débouchent finalement sur l’avènement de l’Etat Impérial (à partir du règne d’Auguste de 27 av. J.-C. à 14 de notre ère) dans lequel tous les pouvoirs sont accolés à un imperium permanent entre les mains d’un seul homme : le césar auguste imperator. Imperator devient un surnom, un nom puis un prénom des empereurs, uniques détenteurs de l’imperium.

 

A ce stade, un certain nombre d’erreurs ne doivent plus être commises : L’imperium n’est pas l’ « Empire ». Si « Imperium » a bien donné « Empire », les romains n’ont pas eu de mots pour décrire précisément le système impérial en tant que système de gouvernement en soi, ou comme territoire. Rome et son Empire sont restés malgré la fin du système républicain la Res Publica. L’imperium est donc un type de pouvoir, et non un système politique ou un territoire, du moins à l’origine. De même, « imperator » ne désigne la fonction d’empereur que tardivement, l’imperator étant avant tout un chef de guerre victorieux.

 

L’empire romain : un imperium euro-méditerranéen permanent

 

A ce titre, ce concept est à l’image de la culture politique et de la pratique du pouvoir des Empereurs Romains : souple, pragmatique, concrète. Il en va de même de la nature du pouvoir impérial, difficile à appréhender et à définir, puisque construit par empirisme (sa nature monarchique n’est cependant pas contestable). En plus de quatre siècles, le pouvoir impérial a su s’adapter aux situations les plus périlleuses (telle la « crise » du IIIe siècle). Rien de commun en effet entre le principat augustéen, système dans lequel l’empereur est le princeps, le prince, primus inter pares, c’est-à-dire premier entre ses pairs de l’aristocratie sénatoriale ; la tétrarchie de Dioclétien (284-305), partage du pouvoir entre quatre empereurs hiérarchisés et l’empire chrétien de Constantin (306-337), dans lesquels l’empereur est le dominus, le maître.

Le système impérial s’accompagne d’une idéologie confortant la souveraineté suprême de l’Empereur. L’empereur est sacrosaint (il a accaparé la puissance tribunitienne). Il doit assurer la paix (la fameuse pax romana inaugurée par Auguste), assurer le retour à l’âge d’or, il bénéficie de la protection des dieux (ou de Dieu, dont il est le comes, le comte –ou compagnon- sur terre, à partir de Constantin) et d’un charisme divin (c’est là tout le sens du titre d’Augustus). Il doit posséder les vertus de justice, de clémence, de piété, de dévouement à l’Etat. Au-delà de cela, il doit corréler respect des traditions et nécessité de fédérer un empire constitué d’une myriade de cités au passé prestigieux et attachées à leur indépendance. En cela, les empereurs romains n’ont point failli, comme le souligne Lucien Jerphagnon dans sa biographie d’Augustin : « Sur 3 300 000 km2 autour de la Méditerranée […] soixante à soixante-dix millions de gens s’affairent ou se laissent vivre, tous différents, avec leurs langues régionales, leurs dieux bien à eux. S’ils avaient plus ou moins renâclé à passer sous domination romaine, ils se trouvaient dans l’ensemble plutôt bien de la Pax Romana. Bref s’était instauré un universalisme qui n’effaçait rien des identités locales. Depuis Caracalla (212), […] on était citoyen romain tout en restant Africain, Syrien… ».

 

Si la nature de la fonction impériale a évoluée, son fondement est resté inchangé : un pouvoir souverain, transcendant, à la fois civil, militaire et religieux, soutenu par un charisme divin, un pouvoir surhumain, nivelant par le haut, ayant pour horizon la pax aeterna, écartant les prétentions des forces centrifuges, donnant une orientation commune à toutes les composantes d’une même koiné (communauté culturelle et politique), tout en préservant leurs identités profondes.

 

Pérennité du concept

 

La notion d’imperium recèle donc des potentialités multiples, et représente un projet valable pour la France et l’Europe que nous appelons de nos vœux. Elle n’est pas, contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait penser, un pur objet historique limité à l’histoire romaine, et dont le champ d’action concret s’arrêterait en 476 avec la chute de l’Empire d’Occident. En effet, la notion de souveraineté héritée de l’imperium a survécu en Europe sous une infinité de forme : Byzance, survivance de l’Empire d’Orient, de culture chrétienne orthodoxe et gréco-romaine, dont l’Empire russe s’est toujours vécu comme un héritier (« tsar » est un titre dérivé de celui de « césar ») ; Le Saint-Empire, chrétien catholique, germanique, issu de l’Empire Carolingien dont la vision était de faire renaître l’Empire Romain d’Occident, témoigne de la prégnance de l’idée d’Empire, y compris chez les barbares installés sur son territoire dans les dernières années de l’empire d’Occident. Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus) ne s’était-il pas fait couronné par le pape dans la ville même de Rome selon le rituel d’intronisation des empereurs (ou du souvenir qu’il en restait), n’a-t-il pas repris la symbolique impériale, en sommeil depuis la chute de l’Empire (orbe impériale, sceptre, couronne –issu du diadème impérial des empereurs tardifs, lui-même repris des rois helléniques-) ? Enfin, les royaumes « barbares », en premier lieu le royaume franc, ont eux aussi recueilli l’héritage de l’imperium romain et de la culture classique à travers l’Eglise. Les mérovingiens (ainsi que les ostrogoths, les wisigoths ou les burgondes), fascinés par le prestige impérial, ont tenté d’imiter le faste des empereurs (imitatio imperii). C’est cependant la monarchie française issue de l’éclatement de l’empire carolingien (Capétiens, Valois, Bourbons) qui sera –à notre sens- parmi les nations européennes la plus belle héritière de la tradition politique romaine. Les rois de France, notamment à partir des derniers capétiens (deuxième moitié du XIIIe siècle), nourris de la redécouverte du droit romain, vont affirmer le principe de souveraineté contre les puissances cherchant à la subjuguer ou à la faire éclater. Le pouvoir royal français comprend de nombreuses similitudes et d’emprunts à l’imperium romain : son côté surnaturel, total –ou plutôt absolu-, divin, la coexistence d’aspects civils, militaires, et religieux, certaines des regalia (l’orbe, la couronne…).

 

Ainsi, à l’éclatement politique de l’Europe au Moyen Âge et à l’époque Moderne a correspondu un éclatement du pouvoir souverain, de l’imperium. L’idée d’un pouvoir souverain fédérateur n’en n’a pas pour autant été altérée. Il en va de même de l’idée d’une Europe unie, portée par l’Eglise, porteuse première de l’héritage romain. Le regain d’intérêt que connait la notion d’imperium n’est donc pas le fruit d’une passion romantique pour l’antiquité européenne, mais la preuve qu’en rupture avec la conception moderne positiviste de l’histoire, nous regardons les formes d’organisations politiques passées comme autant d’héritages vivants et qu’il nous appartient de nous les réapproprier (les derniers empires héritiers indirects de la vision impériale issue de Rome ont respectivement disparu en 1917 –Empire Russe- et 1918 –Empire Austro-Hongrois et Empire Allemand-). Si ce court panorama historique ne peut prétendre rendre compte de la complexité du phénomène, de sa profondeur, et des nuances nombreuses que comporte l’histoire de l’idée d’imperium ou même de l’idée d’Empire, nous espérons avant tout avoir pu clarifier son origine et son sens afin d’en tirer pour la réflexion le meilleur usage possible. L’imperium est une forme du pouvoir politique souple et forte à la fois, capable de redonner du sens à l’idée de souveraineté, et d’articuler autorité politique continentale et impériale de l’Eurasisme avec les aspirations à la conservation des autonomies et des identités nationales portées par le Nationalisme ou même le Monarchisme. A l’heure où le démocratisme, les droits de l’homme, et le libéralisme entrent dans leur phase de déclin, il nous revient d’opposer une alternative cohérente et fédératrice et à opposer l’imperium au mondialisme.

 

Charles Mallet 

http://lheurasie.hautetfort.com/archive/2014/06/05/qu-est-ce-que-l-imperium-charles-mallet-5385150.html

J. Evola: Metafisica del sesso e idealismo magico

 

Tradizione e rivoluzione: intervista con Renato Del Ponte

Tradizione e rivoluzione: intervista con Renato Del Ponte

In occasione della scorsa festa nazionale di CasaPound Italia, il professor Renato del Ponte ci ha gentilmente concesso la presente intervita. Presente alla festa di CPI per presentare in anteprima un libro da lui curato su Adriano Romualdi e il periodo della contestazione negli anni '70: "Lettere ad un amico" Ed. Arya.

 

Il Professore è tornato per noi sul suo percorso universitario, metapolitico e culturale. Ha trattato del suo rapporto con Julius Evola, della sua visione del mondo, delle vie che l'uomo differenziato può ancora percorrere nella presente epoca di fine ciclo.

 

Un'intervista introduttiva per chi vuole conoscere il lavoro di chi ha dedicato le proprie energie a vivificare e trasmettere quella fiamma mai assopita nella nostra identità: la Tradizione Romana.

 

Questo è il nostro primo video in italiano.

 

Un ringraziamento alle sezioni di CasaPound Liguria e Cuneo per aver reso possibile il presente incontro.

 

I Non Allineati.

 

Inizio :

Dalla Tradizione allo studio delle religioni.

4 min 30 : 

L'incontro con Julius Evola. 

7 min 15 :

L'influenza e il ruolo di Evola.

15 min 59 :

Tradizione e politica

 

Ex: http://www.les-non-alignes.fr/

Some Thoughts on the Creation of Intellectual Eurasianism

Leader of Hungarian political party "Jobbik" about Eurasian ideas

Gabor Vona

 

Ex: http://www.geopolitica.ru

 

"Actually, the truth is that the West really is in great need of  »defense«, but only against itself and its own tendencies, which, if they are pushed to their conclusion, will lead inevitably to its ruin and destruction; it is therefore »reform« of the West that is called for instead of »defense against the East«, and if this reform were what it should be---that is to say, a restoration of tradition---it would entail as a natural consequence an understanding with the East."

– René Guénon[1]

1. Euroatlantism and anti-traditionalism

Today's globalized world is in crisis. That is a fact. However, it is not quite clear what this crisis is. In order to get an answer, first we need to define what globalization means. For us, it does not mean the kind of public misconception, which says that the borders between the world's various economic and cultural spheres will gradually disappear and the planet becomes an organic network built upon billions of interactions. Those who believe in this also add that history is thus no longer a parallel development of great spheres, but the great common development of the entire world. Needless to say, this interpretation considers globalization as a positive and organic process from the aspect of historical development.

From our aspect, however, globalization is an explicitly negative, anti-traditionalist process. Perhaps we can understand this statement better if we break it down into components. Who is the actor, and what is the action and the object of globalization? The actor of globalization - and thus crisis production - is the Euro-Atlantic region, by which we mean the United States and the great economic-political powers of Western Europe. Economically speaking, the action of globalization is the colonization of the entire world; ideologically speaking, it means safeguarding the monopolistic, dictatorial power of liberalism; while politically speaking, it is the violent export of democracy.  Finally, the object of globalization is the entire globe. To sum it up in one sentence: globalization is the effort of the Euro-Atlantic region to control the whole world physically and intellectually. As processes are fundamentally defined by their actors that actually cause them, we will hereinafter name globalization as Euroatlantism. The reason for that is to clearly indicate that we are not talking about a kind of global dialogue and organic cooperation developing among the world's different regions, continents, religions, cultures, and traditions, as the neutrally positive expression of "globalization" attempts to imply, but about a minor part of the world (in particular the Euro-Atlantic region) which is striving to impose its own economic, political, and intellectual model upon the rest of the world in an inorganic manner, by direct and indirect force, and with a clear intention to dominate it.

As we indicated at the beginning of this essay, this effort of Euroatlantism has brought a crisis upon the entire world. Now we can define the crisis itself. Unlike what is suggested by the news and the majority of public opinion, this crisis is not primarily an economic one. The problem is not that we cannot justly distribute the assets produced. Although it is true, it is not the cause of the problem and the crisis; it is rather the consequence of it. Neither is this crisis a political one, that is to say: the root cause is not that the great powers and international institutions fail to establish a liveable and harmonious status quo for the whole world; it is just a consequence as well. Nor does this crisis result from the clashes of cultures and religions, as some strategists believe; the problem lies deeper than that. The world's current crisis is an intellectual one. It is a crisis of the human intellect, and it can be characterized as a conflict between traditional values (meaning conventional, normal, human) and anti-traditionalism (meaning modern, abnormal, subhuman), which is now increasingly dominating the world. From this aspect, Euroatlantism - that is to say, globalism - can be greatly identified with anti-traditionalism. So the situation is that the Euro-Atlantic region, which we can simply but correctly call the West, is the crisis itself; in other words, it carries the crisis within, so when it colonizes the world, it in fact spreads an intellectual virus as well. So this is the anti-traditionalist aspect of the world's ongoing processes, but does a traditionalist pole exist, and if it does, where can we find it?

2. Eurasianism as a geopolitical concept

Geographically speaking, Eurasia means the continental unity of Europe and Asia, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As a cultural notion, Eurasianism was a concept conceived by Russian emigrants in the early 20th century. It proved to be a fertile framework, since it has been reinterpreted several times and will surely continue to be so in the future as well. Nicolai Sergeyevich Trubetskoy is widely considered as the founder of Eurasianism, while Alexandr Dugin is referred to as the key ideologist of the concept. Trubetskoy was one of the greatest thinkers of the Russian emigration in the early 20th century, who attempted to redefine Russia's role in the turbulent post-World War I times, looking for new goals, new perspectives, and new meanings. On the one hand, he rejected Pan-Slavism and replaced the Slavophile ideology with a kind of "Turanophile" one, as Lajos Pálfalvi put it in an essay.[2] He tore Russian thinking out of the Eastern Slavic framework and found Genghis Khan as a powerful antetype, the founder of a Eurasian state. Trubetskoy says that it was the Khan's framework left behind that Moscow's Tsars filled with a new, Orthodox sense of mission after the Mongol occupation. In his view, the European and Western orientation of Peter the Great is a negative disruption of this process, a cultural disaster, while the desirable goal for Russia is to awaken as a part of Eurasia.

So Eurasianism was born as a uniquely Russian concept but not at all for Russia only, even though it is often criticized for being a kind of Great Russia concept in a cultural-geopolitical disguise. Ukrainian author Mikola Ryabchuk goes as far as to say that whoever uses this notion, for whatever reason, is basically doing nothing but revitalizing the Russian political dominance, tearing the former Soviet sphere out of the "European political and cultural project".[3] Ryabchuk adds that there is a certain intellectual civil war going on in the region, particularly in Russia and also in Turkey about the acceptance of Western values. So those who utter the word "Eurasianism" in this situation are indirectly siding with Russia. The author is clearly presenting his views from a pro-West and anti-Russian aspect, but his thoughts are worth looking at from our angle as well.

As a cultural idea, Eurasianism was indeed created to oppose the Western, or to put it in our terms, the Euro-Atlantic values. It indeed supposes an opposition to such values and finds a certain kind of geopolitical reference for it. We must also emphasize that being wary of the "European political and cultural project" is justified from the economic, political, and cultural aspects as well. If a national community does not wish to comply, let's say, with the role assigned by the European Union, it is not a negative thing at all; in fact, it is the sign of a sort of caution and immunity in this particular case. It is especially so, if it is not done for some economic or nationalistic reason, but as a result of a different cultural-intellectual approach. Rendering Euro-Atlantic "values" absolute and indisputable means an utter intellectual damage, especially in the light of the first point of our essay. So the opposition of Eurasianism to the Euro-Atlantic world is undeniably positive for us. However, if we interpreted Eurasianism as mere anti-Euro-Atlantism, we would vulgarly simplify it, and we would completely fail to present an alternative to the the anti-traditionalist globalization outlined above.

What we need is much more than just a reciprocal pole or an alternative framework for globalization. Not only do we want to oppose globalization horizontally but, first and foremost, also vertically. We want to demonstrate an intellectual superiority to it. That is to say, when establishing our own Eurasia concept, we must point out that it means much more for us than a simple geographical notion or a geopolitical idea that intends to oppose Euro-Atlantism on the grounds of some tactical or strategic power game. Such speculations are valueless for me, regardless of whether they have some underlying, latent Russian effort for dominance or not. Eurasianism is basically a geographical and/or political framework, therefore, it does not have a normative meaning or intellectual centre. It is the task of its interpretation and interpreter to furnish it with such features.

3. Intellectual Eurasianism - Theories and practice

We have stated that we cannot be content with anti-Euro-Atlantism. Neither can we be content with a simple geographical and geopolitical alternative, so we demand an intellectual Eurasianism. If we fail to provide this intellectual centre, this meta-political source, then our concept remains nothing but a different political, economic, military, or administrative idea which would indeed represent a structural difference but not a qualitative breakthrough compared to Western globalization. Politically speaking, it would be a reciprocal pole, but not of a superior quality. This could lay the foundations for a new cold or world war, where two anti-traditionalist forces confront each other, like the Soviet Union and the United States did, but it surely won't be able to challenge the historical process of the spread of anti-traditionalism. However, such challenge is exactly what we consider indispensable. A struggle between one globalization and another is nonsensical from our point of view. Our problem with Euro-Atlantism is not its Euro-Atlantic but its anti-traditionalist nature. Contrary to that, our goal is not to construct another anti-traditionalist framework, but to present a supranational and traditionalist response to the international crisis. Using Julius Evola's ingenious term, we can say that Eurasianism must be able to pass the air test.[4]

At this point, we must look into the question of why we can't give a traditionalist answer within a Euro-Atlantic framework. Theoretically speaking, the question is reasonable since the Western world was also developing within a traditional framework until the dawn of the modern age, but this opportunity must be excluded for several reasons. Firstly, it is no accident that anti-traditionalist modernism developed in the West and that is where it started going global from. The framework of this essay is too small for a detailed presentation of the multi-century process of how modernism took roots in and grew out of the original traditionalist texture of Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian thinking and culture, developing into today's liberal Euroatlantism. For now, let us state that the anti-traditionalist turn of the West had a high historical probability. This also means that the East was laid on much stronger traditionalist foundations and still is, albeit it is gradually weakening. In other words, when we are seeking out a geopolitical framework for our historic struggle, our choice for Eurasianism is not in the least arbitrary. The reality is that the establishment of a truly supranational traditionalist framework can only come from the East. This is where we can still have a chance to involve the leading political-cultural spheres. The more we go West, the weaker the centripetal power of Eurasianism is, so it can only expect to have small groups of supporters but no major backing from the society.

The other important question is why we consider traditionalism as the only intellectual centre that can fecundate Eurasianism. The question "Why Eurasia?" can be answered much more accurately than "Why the metaphysical Tradition?". We admit that our answer is rather intuitive, but we can be reassured by the fact that René Guénon, Julius Evola, or Frithjof Schuon, the key figures in the restoration of traditionalist philosophy, were the ones who had the deepest and clearest understanding of the transcendental, metaphysical unity of Eastern and Western religions and cultures. Their teaching reaches back to such ancient intellectual sources that can provide a sense of communion for awakening Western Christian, Orthodox, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist people. These two things are exactly what are necessary for the success of Eurasianism: a foundation that can ensure supranational and supra-religious perspectives as well as an intellectual centrality. The metaphysical Tradition can ensure these two: universality and quality. At that moment, Eurasianism is no longer a mere geopolitical alternative, a new yet equally crisis-infected (and thus also infectious) globalization process, but a traditionalist response.

We cannot overemphasize the superior quality of intellectual Eurasianism. However, it is important to note here that the acquisition of an intellectual superiority ensured by the traditionalist approach would not at all mean that our confrontation with Euroatlantism would remain at a spiritual-intellectual level only, thus giving up our intentions to create a counterbalance or even dominance in the practical areas, such as the political, diplomatic, economic, military, and cultural spheres.  We can be satisfied with neither a vulgar Eurasianism (lacking a philosophical centre) nor a theoretical one (lacking practicability). The only adequate form for us is such a Eurasianism that is rooted in the intellectual centre of traditionalism and is elaborated for practical implementation as well. To sum up in one sentence: there must be a traditionalist Eurasianism standing in opposition to an anti-traditionalist Euroatlantism.

The above also means that geopolitical and geographical positions are strategically important, but not at all exclusive, factors in identifying the enemy-ally coordinates. A group that has a traditionalist intellectual base (thus being intellectually Eurasian) is our ally even if it is located in a Euro-Atlantic zone, while a geographically Eurasian but anti-traditionalist force (thus being intellectually Euro-Atlantic) would be an enemy, even if it is a great power.

4. Homogeneousness and heterogeneousness

If it is truly built upon the intellectual centre of metaphysical Tradition, intellectual Eurasianism has such a common base that it is relevant regardless of geographical position, thus giving the necessary homogeneousness to the entire concept. On the other hand, the tremendous size and the versatility of cultures and ancient traditions of the Eurasian area do not allow for a complete theoretical uniformity. However, this is just a barrier to overcome, an intellectual challenge that we must all meet, but it is not a preventive factor. Each region, nation, and country must find their own form that can organically and harmoniously fit into its own traditions and the traditionalist philosophical approach of intellectual Eurasianism as well. Simply put, we can say that each one must form their own Eurasianism within the large unit.

As we said above, this is an intellectual challenge that requires an able intellectual elite in each region and country who understand and take this challenge and are in a constructive relationship with the other, similar elites. These elites together could provide the international intellectual force that is destined to elaborate the Eurasian framework itself. The sentences above throw a light on the greatest hiatus (and greatest challenge) lying in the establishment of intellectual Eurasianism. This challenge is to develop and empower traditionalist intellectual elites operating in different geographical areas, as well as to establish and improve their supranational relations. Geographically and nationally speaking, intellectual Eurasianism is heterogeneous, while it is homogeneous in the continental and essential sense.

However, the heterogeneousness of Eurasianism must not be mistaken for the multiculturalism of Euroatlantism. In the former, allies form a supranational and supra-cultural unit while also preserving their own traditions, whereas the latter aims to create a sub-cultural and sub-national unit, forgetting and rejecting traditions. This also means that intellectual Eurasianism is against and rejects all mass migrations, learning from the West's current disaster caused by such events. We believe that geographical position and environment is closely related to the existence and unique features of the particular religious, social, and cultural tradition, and any sudden, inorganic, and violent social movement ignoring such factors will inevitably result in a state of dysfunction and conflicts. Intellectual Eurasianism promotes self-realization and the achievement of intellectual missions for all nations and cultures in their own place.

5. Closing thoughts

The aim of this short essay is to outline the basis and lay the foundations for an ambitious and intellectual Eurasianism by raising fundamental issues. We based our argumentation on the obvious fact that the world is in crisis, and that this crisis is caused by liberal globalization, which we identified as Euroatlantism. We believe that the counter-effect needs to be vertical and traditionalist, not horizontal and vulgar.  We called this counter-effect Eurasianism, some core ideas of which were explained here. We hope that this essay will have a fecundating impact, thus truly contributing to the further elaboration of intellectual Eurasianism, both from a universal and a Hungarian aspect.

[1] René Guénon: The Crisis of the Modern World Translated by Marco Pallis, Arthur Osborne, and Richard C. Nicholson. Sophia Perennis: Hillsdale, New York. 2004. Pg. 31-32.

[2] Lajos Pálfalvi: Nicolai Trubetskoy's impossible Eurasian mission. In Nicolai Sergeyevich Trubetskoy: Genghis Khan's heritage. (in Hungarian) Máriabesnyő, 2011, Attraktor Publishing, p. 152.

[3] Mikola Ryabchuk: Western "Eurasianism" and the "new Eastern Europe”: a discourse of exclusion. (in Hungarian) Szépirodalmi Figyelő 4/2012

[4] See: Julius Evola: Handbook of Rightist Youth. (in Hungarian) Debrecen, 2012, Kvintesszencia Publishing House, pp. 45–48

Les ressorts psychologiques des pilotes Tokkôtai

Manipulation esthétique et romantisme

Les ressorts psychologiques des pilotes Tokkôtai

Kamikazes, fleurs de cerisiers et nationalismes

Rémy Valat
Ex: http://metamag.fr

花は桜木人は武士(hana wa sakuragi hito wa bushi).

« La fleur des fleurs est le cerisier, la fleur des hommes est le guerrier. »

Les éditions Hermann ont eu la bonne idée de publier le livre d’Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikazes, Fleurs de cerisier et Nationalismes, paru précédemment en langue anglaise aux éditions des universités de Chicago (2002) sous le titre Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms : The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. La traduction de cette étude magistrale est de Livane Pinet Thélot (revue par Xavier Marie). Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney enseigne l’anthropologie à l'université du Wisconsin ; elle est une spécialiste réputée du Japon. Sa carrière académique est exceptionnelle : elle est présidente émérite de la section de culture moderne à la Bibliothèque du Congrès de Washington, membre de l’Avancées de Paris et de l'Académie américaine des arts et des sciences. 

Kamikazes, Fleurs de cerisier et Nationalismes n’est pas une histoire de bataille. L’auteure s’est intéressée aux manipulations esthétiques et symboliques de la fleur de cerisier par les pouvoirs politiques et militaires des ères Meiji, Taishô et Shôwa jusqu’en 1945. La floraison des cerisiers appartient à la culture archaïque japonaise, elle était associée à la fertilité, au renouveau printanier, à la vie. L’éphémère présence de ces fleurs blanches s’inscrivait dans le calendrier des rites agricoles, lesquels culminaient à l’automne avec la récolte du riz, et étaient le prétexte à libations d’alcool de riz (saké) et festivités. Au fil des siècles, les acteurs politiques et sociaux ont octroyé une valeur différente au cerisier : l’empereur pour se démarquer de l’omniprésente culture chinoise et de sa fleur symbole, celle du prunier ; les samouraïs et les nationalistes pour souligner la fragilité de la vie du guerrier, et, surtout pour les seconds, institutionnaliser une esthétique valorisant la mort et le sacrifice. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney nous révèle l’instrumentalisation des récits, des traditions et des symboles nippons, ayant pour toile de fond et acteurs des cerisiers et des combattants : le Manyôshû (circa 755 ap. JC), un recueil de poèmes mettant en scène les sakimori (garde-frontières en poste au nord de Kyûshû et sur les îles de Tsushima et d’Iki) ont été expurgés des passages trop humains où les hommes exprimaient leur affection pour leurs proches de manière à mettre en avant la fidélité à l’empereur.  L’épisode des pilotes tokkôtai survint à la fin de la guerre du Pacifique et atteint son paroxysme au moment où le Japon est victime des bombardements américains et Okinawa envahi. Ces missions suicides ont marqué les esprits (c’était l’un des objectifs de l’état-major impérial) et donné une image négative du combattant japonais, dépeint comme un « fanatique »... Avec une efficacité opérationnelle faible, après l’effet de surprise de Leyte (où 20,8% des navires ont été touchés), le taux des navires coulés ou endommagés serait de 11,6%....Tragique hasard de l’Histoire, la bataille d’Okinawa s’est déroulée au moment de la floraison des cerisiers, donnant une touche romantique à cette irrationnelle tragédie, durant laquelle le Japon va sacrifier la fine fleur de sa jeunesse.

Fine fleur, car ces jeunes hommes, un millier environ, étaient des étudiants provenant des meilleures universités du pays, promus hâtivement officiers-pilotes pour une mission sans retour. 3843 pilotes (estimation maximale incluant toutes les catégories socio-professionnelles et classes d’âge) sont morts en tentant de s’écraser sur un bâtiment de guerre américain. L’étude des journaux intimes de ces jeunes kamikazes, journaux parfois entamés plusieurs années auparavant constitue une source inestimable car elle permet de cerner l’évolution psychologique et philosophique des futurs pilotes. L’analyse, centrée sur 5 cas, révèle que l’intériorisation de la propagande militaire et impériale était imparfaite, individualisée. Toutefois, le panel étudié (5%de la population) est la principale faiblesse de l’argumentation d’Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (l’auteure aurait eu des difficultés à trouver des sources originales et complètes). Il ressort de son analyse que peu de pilotes, dont aucun n’était probablement volontaire, aurait réellement adhéré à l’idéologie officielle. Ironie, les étudiants-pilotes étaient pétris de  culture : la « génération Romain Rolland » (lire notre recension du livre de Michael Lucken, Les Japonais et la guerre).

L’opposition entre la culture occidentale prônant le libre arbitre et l’obligation de se donner la mort en mission commandée a ouvert la porte à l’irrationalité et au romantisme. Leur dernière nuit était un déchirement, mais tous ont su trouver la force de sourire avant le dernier vol. Kasuga Takeo (86 ans), dans une lettre au docteur Umeazo Shôzô, apporte un témoignage exceptionnel sur les dernières heures des kamikazes : « Dans le hall où se tenait leur soirée d’adieu la nuit précédant leur départ, les jeunes étudiants officiers buvaient du saké froid. Certains avalaient le saké en une gorgée, d’autres en engloutissaient une grande quantité. Ce fut vite le chaos. Il y en avait qui cassaient des ampoules suspendues avec leurs sabres. D’autres qui soulevaient les chaises pour casser les fenêtres et déchiraient les nappes blanches. Un mélange de chansons militaires et de jurons emplissaient l’air. Pendant que certains hurlaient de rage, d’autres pleuraient bruyamment. C’était leur dernière nuit de vie. Ils pensaient à leurs parents et à la femme qu’ils aimaient....Bien qu’ils fussent censés être prêts à sacrifier leur précieuse jeunesse pour l’empire japonais et l’empereur le lendemain matin, ils étaient tiraillés au-delà de toute expression possible...Tous ont décollé au petit matin avec le bandeau du soleil levant autour de la tête. Mais cette scène de profond désespoir a rarement été rapportée. » (pp. 292-293).

Quel sens donner à leur sacrifice ?

 
Outre celui de protéger leurs proches, l’idée de régénération est forte. Un Japon nouveau, épuré des corruptions de l’Occident (matérialisme, égoïsme, capitalisme, modernité) germerait de leur sublime et suprême offrande. La méconnaissance (source d’interprétations multiples) et l’archaïsme du symbole a, semble-t-il, éveillé et mobilisé des sentiments profonds et primitifs, et pourtant ô combien constitutifs de notre humanité. Ironie encore, ce sont contre des bâtiments américains que viennent périr ces jeunes hommes, ces « bâtiments noirs, venus la première fois en 1853, obligeant le Japon à faire face aux défis de l’Occident et de la mondialisation. Il ne faut pas oublier que l’ultranationalisme japonais est une réponse à ce défi... Le Japon ne s’est pas laissé coloniser comme la Chine ; les guerres de l’opium ont donné à réfléchir aux élites japonaises. Mieux, les Japonais ont su s’armer, réfléchir et chercher le meilleur moyen de retourner les armes de l’agresseur. Le Japon a été un laboratoire intellectuel intense, et le communisme, idéologie sur laquelle la Chine habillera son nationalisme, est un import du pays du Soleil Levant... Ernst Nolte explique les excès du nazisme comme une réaction au danger communiste (La guerre civile européenne) : il en est de même au Japon. La menace des navires américains est un retour à l’acte fondateur du nationalisme nippon expliquerait l’irrationalité des actes de mort volontaire...

Le livre d’Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, qui professe aux Ėtats-Unis, est remarquable, mais peut-être marqué par l’esprit du vainqueur. « Ce qui est regrettable par-dessus tout, écrit-elle (p. 308), c’est que la majorité de la population ait oublié les victimes de la guerre. Ces dernières sont tombées dans les oubliettes de l’histoire, ont été recouvertes par la clameur des discussions entre les libéraux et l’extrême-droite, au lieu d’être le rappel de la culpabilité de la guerre que chaque Japonais devrait partager ». La culpabilité (la repentance) est une arme politique ne l’oublions pas : une arme qui sert peut-être à garder le Japon sous influence américaine, car même si le Japon s’achemine vers une « normalisation » de sa politique et de ses moyens de défense, l’interdépendance des industries d’armement et de communication ainsi que l’instrumentalisation du débat sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale en Asie entravent le processus d’une totale indépendance politique de ce pays. Si les Japonais devraient partager la culpabilité des victimes de la guerre ? Qui doit partager celles des bombardements de Tôkyô, de Hiroshima et de Nagasaki ? Enfin, on ignore l’état d’esprit de ce qui ont le plus sincèrement adhéré à l’idéologie impériale au point de sacrifier leurs vies pour elle (Nogi Maresuke, Onishi Takijiro, fondateur des escadrilles tokkôtai, pour les plus illustres). Orages d’acier ou À l’Ouest rien de nouveau, deux expériences et deux visions, radicalement opposées, sur une même guerre...

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikazes, Fleurs de cerisier et Nationalismes, éditions Hermann, 2013, 580 p., 38 euros.

Artaud, Castaneda, Eliade e il viaggio iniziatico

Artaud, Castaneda, Eliade e il viaggio iniziatico

di Chiara Donnini

Fonte: ideeinoltre

All’inizio del suo saggio, Il viaggio iniziatico edito da Laterza, Emanuele Trevi sostiene che esistono narrazioni che producono "questa straordinaria esperienza - la possibilità che le parole di un altro ci tocchino in profondo, fino a quello strato dell'essere nel quale si generano le trasformazioni più profonde e benefiche", tanto che diventa assai difficile distinguere la conoscenza trasmessa dallo scrittore dalle ripercussioni interiori generate nel lettore.Questi appunti sono il risultato di un viaggio iniziatico compiuto attraverso il testo di Trevi e delle corrispondenze e degli echi che esso ha prodotto, rimandato e amplificato.

 

Il viaggio concettuale che compie l’autoreè un movimento circolare in tre momenti che dalla letteratura etnografica e antropologica sul viaggio dei primi del novecento (Dio d’acqua, nel quale l’etnologo francese Marcel Griaule rivelò le “verità” ricevute da uno sciamano dell’allora Sudan francese; Alce Nero parla di John Neihardt, che raccoglie le memorie del capo nativo americano; Gli insegnamenti di don Juanche Carlos Castaneda dedicò ai miti degli indios dell'Arizona e del Messico; Il grande viaggio in slitta nel quale l’antropologo Knud Rasmussen parlò degli Inuit), arriva alle lezioni  americane, le Haskell Lectures sui riti d’iniziazione di Mircea Eliade, passando attraverso i monologhi erratici di Antonin Artaud sulla sua esperienza d’iniziazione con l’allucinogeno peyotl (Ciguri) nel paese dei Tarahumara sulla Sierra Madre (Messico).

 

Nel primo capitolo “Il pulcino addormentato sulla scarpa”, Trevi prende in esame quattro testi iniziatici fondamentali nei quali gli autori sono stati prescelti (quindi sono stati accolti nella comunità e dotati di fiducia) per ricevere e conservare la saggezza e le tradizioni di un antico popolo. Partendo dalla domanda dello sciamano Ogotemmeli nel Dio d’acqua di Griaule “Come insegnare a un bianco?”, Trevi pone il primo tassello del suo percorso concettuale: la differenza tra sapere tradizionale e sapere moderno, tra storie, miti, parabole, simboli,archetipi, riti e ragionamenti e contenuti astratti, tra saggezza (che è il sapere congiunto

indissolubilmente all’esperienza) ed erudizione. La risposta alla domanda di Ogotemmeli la troviamo in ciò che dice don Juan in Gli insegnamenti di don Juan di Castaneda: “L’uomo si avvia verso il sapere come se andasse in guerra”, il che vuol dire che per trasmettere sapienza è necessario che un autore, nell’acquisire insegnamenti, compia a sua volta un’esperienza e che questa esperienza diventi in qualche modo parte della narrazione, cosicché da semplice testimone si trasformi egli stesso in personaggio della narrazione.“Ma solo superficialmente questo criterio di orientamento individuale può essere interpretato come un limite della credibilità del racconto. In realtà, non esiste nessun altro criterio, nessun’altra forma possibile di conoscenza, che quella che fa capo all’individuo.” Inoltre, è necessario che l’autore si ponga di fronte alla conoscenza che sta per ricevere e all’esperienza che sta per compiere con lo stupore e la meraviglia di un bambino, che fuor di metafora significa con il minor numero di sovrastrutture mentali possibile. Ciò echeggia nelle parole di Rasmussen, il quale, nell’introduzione a Il lungo viaggio in slitta, scrive: “La slitta è stato il mio primo vero giocattolo e con quello ho portato a termine il grande compito della mia vita”. Il libro diventa in questo modo “qualcosa che è accaduto, un’unica volta, all’autore” (Roberto Bazlen), qualcosa che segna uno spartiacque tra un prima e un dopo, qualcosa di assimilabile a un rito iniziatico.

 

Rito iniziatico che invece compie realmente Antonin Artaud, nel suo viaggio di ascensione reale e metaforica della Sierra Madre (Messico), viaggio che si conclude alla sommità del monte con il rito del Ciguri. Nel secondo capitolo “…dall’altra parte delle cose” Artaud compie un doppio passaggio attraverso lo specchio che separa il visibile dall’invisibile, la vita dalla morte, la materia dallo spirito. L’ascensione della Sierra per Artaud diventa di fatto una discesa agl’inferi di dantesca memoria, che passo dopo passo lo costringe ad abbandonare per strada tutto quello che concerne la sua precedente identità e a presentarsi nudo al momento finale del passaggio. “Perché quel procedere nella malattia è un viaggio, una discesa, per uscire di nuovo alla luce del giorno”. Dopo aver attraversato lo specchio, essersi sentiti rivoltati e riversati dall’altra parte e aver guardato,dunque, il mondo all’incontrario, come l’Orlando pazzo per amore, come l’Appeso diIl castello dei destini incrociati di Calvino, il rito del peyotldiventa il momento dell’illuminazione in cui, pur non riaggregandosi immediatamente la nuova identità dell’iniziato, si focalizza il centro di gravità intorno al quale essa prenderà forma. Tornato in Europa Artaud subirà anche la reclusione in un ospedale psichiatrico e l’elettroshock, esperienze che in qualche modo lo porteranno a rivedere i suoi scritti sul rito del Cigurie a evidenziare la sostanziale differenza tra la frattura identitaria generata dal rito iniziatico (esperienza di morte e rinascita all’insegna della luce e del senso) e quella generata dall’elettroshock (esperienza di morte e rinascita all’insegna dell’oscurità e del non senso).

 

Nell’ultimo capitolo del Viaggio, “Un’esistenza fallita”, Trevi prende in esame l’enorme patrimonio di erudizione costituito dalle lezioni americane, le Haskell Lectures, di Mircea Eliade sui simboli e riti d’iniziazione delle società primitive o tradizionali. Questi riti sono quasi sempre praticati su adolescenti che vengono costretti ad abbandonare il recinto (eden) delle loro certezze, delle loro abitudini, ad abbandonare tutte le “madri” e il consesso umano, per addentrarsi nella solitudine della natura e sperimentare il senso del tremendum, del sacro. “L'adolescente iniziato comincia con l'essere terrorizzato da una realtà soprannaturale, di cui sperimenta per la prima volta la potenza, l'autonomia, l'incommensurabilità; in seguito all'incontro con il terrore divino, il neofita muore: muore all'infanzia, cioè all'ignoranza e all'irresponsabilità. Subentra un nuovo modo d'essere, il modo d'essere dell'adulto: caratterizzato dalla rivelazione, quasi simultanea, del sacro, della morte e della sessualità. Al termine del processo rituale, si potrà definire l'iniziato come colui che sa.". Le lezioni di Mircea Eliade rappresentano in pieno il paradosso dell’uomo moderno che ha accumulato un’enorme quantità di conoscenze riguardo a ogni forma di religiosità, ma per il quale “la quantità del sapere appare direttamente proporzionale a un processo (forse irreversibile) di svuotamento”.

 

Il filo rosso del ragionamento che Trevi ha srotolato ora ritorna al punto di partenza e viene riannodatoisolando il concetto che permea di fatto tutta la sua narrazione: il viaggio iniziatico, con la sua morte e rinascita simboliche, sia esso moto orizzontale nello spazio e nel tempo delle civiltà tradizionali e antiche o moto verticale nella profondità dell'essere, o entrambe le cose, oggi non appartiene più alla dimensione collettiva e rituale del sacro e del divino, ma appartiene invece unicamente alla dimensione individuale e psicologica della ricerca di se stessi attuata e attuabile in special modo attraverso una “certa letteratura”. "La modernità è il tempo storico nel quale la letteratura si carica sulle spalle le esigenze più profonde del vecchio homo religiosus. Sottraendole, però, a quella dimensione collettiva, fondata su valori e credenze condivise, che è la condizione stessa dell'esperienza religiosa, alla quale, in fondo, non sfuggono nemmeno le esplorazioni più ardite dei mistici e le ribellioni degli eretici. Il terreno sul quale si muove lo scrittore moderno, al contrario, è fondato sulla più irrimediabilmente solitudine. (...) nascere un'altra volta, a costo di scuotere tutte le fondamenta dell'identità, di mandare in frantumi le abitudini, i significati, le protezioni che ci sostengono. Perché la vita è un fallimento. E se volessimo formulare una definizione sintetica della letteratura moderna, ebbene dovremmo ammettere che essa, nella strabiliante varietà delle sue forme e delle sue invenzioni, è una grandiosa, enciclopedica, inesauribile scienza del fallimento della vita umana.".

 

Il concetto di fallimento non è in questo caso da intendersi in senso nichilista. Con esso l’autorevuole evidenziare il fatto che le esperienze della vita umana contengono irrimediabilmente imperfezione, inganno, caduta, errore e di conseguenza dolore che non possono e non devono essere evitati e che vanno accettati e interiorizzati per permettere all’individuo di compiere il proprio cammino in modo consapevole, altrimenti lo condurrebbero solo alla crescente alienazione ed estraniamento da sé e dal mondo.  "Un'esistenza che, prima o poi, si rivela fallita. E, preso atto della mancanza di significato che invade lo spazio aperto da questo fallimento, tenta o immagina periodicamente di rinnovarsi, di accedere alle possibilità offerte da una seconda nascita, da una nascita mistica.".

 

Prendiamo un uomo e la fiamma viva di un fuoco. Se quest'uomo, per sbaglio o per volontà, mettesse una delle sue mani su quella fiamma, proverebbe un dolore subitaneo e intenso che lo indurrebbe a distogliere la mano per non ridurla in cenere. Quel dolore è l'unica difesa che l'uomo ha per non bruciarsi e il suo ricordo il modo per non commettere di nuovo quell'errore. Lo stesso vale per qualsiasi dolore: risveglia la coscienza e incide nella memoria la cicatrice dell'esperienza fallimentare; ma se quel dolore fosse vissuto come qualcosa di estraneo e non venisse interiorizzato in alcun modo, rimarrebbe vano e quasi certamente verrebbe ripetuto. Allora, forse, è proprio il dolore, anche il dolore totalmente esogeno che non ci procuriamo con i nostri comportamenti, che, una volta interiorizzato, può salvarci dall’autodistruzione innescando anche una rinascita più o meno significativa.

 

Naturalmente la letteratura del viaggio reale o metaforico (e non solo quella) ha sempre svolto questo ruolo di rottura e illuminazione (si pensi solamente all’Odissea di Omero o alla Divina Commedia di Dante – che però contenevano comunque la dimensione del divino -, ma anche al laico Don Chisciotte di Cervantes). Quel che avviene con l’avvento della modernità, con il progressivo accantonamento della dimensione del sacro, lo svuotamento di significato della sua ritualità e, infine, con la secolarizzazione del sapere, è che una “certa letteratura”rimane pressoché l’ultimo e l’unico strumento alla portata di tutti (almeno di tutti i lettori) per tentare il disvelamento dell’Essere e per compiere la propria medesima iniziazione alla vita, poiché “la persuasione che la vita ha uno scopo è radicata in ogni fibra dell’uomo, è proprietà della sostanza umana.” (Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo).

 

La letteratura moderna però, rispetto alla religione e alla letteratura precedente, non offre affatto una visione d’insieme ordinata, coerente e consolatoria, si limita al massimo a inchiodare un atomo nel caos del cosmo, a far brillare una scheggia di verità nel buio dell’ignoranza, ad alleviare in parte e per un istante il senso di solitudine e smarrimento dell’individuo.“Ma è bene se la coscienza riceve larghe ferite perché in tal modo diventa più sensibile a ogni morso. Bisognerebbe leggere, credo, soltanto i libri che mordono e pungono. Se il libro che leggiamo non ci sveglia con un pugno sul cranio, a che serve leggerlo? Affinché ci renda felici, come scrivi tu? Dio mio, felici saremmo anche se non avessimo libri, e i libri che ci rendono felici potremmo eventualmente scriverli noi. Ma noi abbiamo bisogno di libri che agiscano su di noi come una disgrazia che ci fa molto male, come la morte di uno che era più caro di noi stessi, come se fossimo respinti dai boschi, via da tutti gli uomini, come un suicidio, un libro deve essere la scure per il mare gelato dentro di noi. Questo credo.” (Franz Kafka, lettera a Oskar Pollak del 27.I.1904)

Tante altre notizie su www.ariannaeditrice.it

Evola on Meditation

Evola on Meditation: Four Techniques for Controlling the Thoughts

Ex: http://aristocratsofthesoul.wordpress.com

Julius Evola, “Astrazione,” c. 1920

Julius Evola’s guide to Theravāda Buddhism, The Doctrine of Awakening, is divided into two sections. The first part covers the theories and doctrines of primitive Buddhism, and the second half delves into practical techniques for the disciple. (See my review of The Doctrine of Awakening.)

These practical techniques give the modern-day disciple a detailed guide from a trusted source, for Evola relies solely on the teachings of the Buddha and his disciples (unlike modern-day Buddhist guides for the layman, which tend to ignore certain ideas).

This post highlights Evola’s instructions for the “four instruments” that can help control the thought. Mental control must be the first urgent concern of a disciple, for “in its fluid, changeable, and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness” (pg. 109).

According to Buddhist doctrine, thought is located in the “cavern of the heart,” meaning that it isn’t merely a mental or psychological process. Thus, the entire body must be engaged in its control. Rather than “forcing” oneself into a false mental control, Evola says one must:

simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; interior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness. (pg. 109)

Based on this description, it can be suggested that the disciple contact a metaphysical energy to help manifest the will and spirit in order to better control the thoughts and other aspects of samsāric existence.

The result of mental control is a state called appamada, which means “conscientious” or “concern.” This is the state of consciousness in which one is master of oneself, by virtue of being centered in oneself. Rather than letting your thoughts control you or run wild, it is the “first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration” (pg. 110). According the Max Muller, appamada forms the base of every virtue. The being who possesses appamada is said to not die, while those who let their thoughts run wild are as if already dead:

From his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains. (pg. 110)

All of this requires an incredible strength of will. Control of the thoughts should be the first step in developing the will and control required for the path of awakening. Here are the four techniques (“instruments”) that can be used to control the thoughts:

The First Instrument: Substitution

This technique should be used when harmful and unworthy thoughts arise–those that are manifestations of the asava, that is, thought-images of craving, aversion, or blindness. When these thoughts arise, one should replace them with a beneficial idea. This beneficial thought will dissolve the harmful one and in the process, “the intimate spirit will be fortified, will become calm, unified, and strong.”

There are several characteristics of an unworthy thought. Basically, any thought that encourages desires, cravings, errors in thinking (i.e., thoughts not in keeping with the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path), and thoughts that serve to bind the thinker to the world could all be said to be unworthy. Here is a description:

That, whereby fresh mania of desire sprouts and the old mania is reinforced; fresh mania of existence sprouts and the old mania is reinforced; fresh mania of error sprouts and the old mania is reinforced.

Part of this first technique involves creating a “chain of beneficial thoughts.” When a thought of “ill will or cruelty” arises, here is what one should think:

It leads to my own harm, it leads to others’ harm, it leads to the harm of both, it uproots wisdom, it brings vexation, it does not lead to extinction, it leads to self-limitation.

If this process of thought-replacement is performed with sufficient sincerity and intensity, then the harmful thought will dissolve.

The Second Instrument: ‘Expulsion Through Horror or Contempt’

This practice involves getting rid of harmful thoughts by associating them with things that fill you with disgust and loathing. Evola cites a simile for the technique from a Buddhist text:

‘Just as a woman or a man, young, flourishing and charming, round whose neck were tied the carcass of a snake, or the carcass of a dog, or a human carcass, would be filled with fear, horror, and loathing,’ so, the perception of the unworthy character of those images or thoughts should produce an immediate and instinctive act of expulsion, from which their dispersion or neutralizing would follow. Whenever an affective chord is touched, then by making an effort one must be able to feel contempt, shame, and disgust for the enjoyment or dislike that has arisen. (pg. 111)

Evola is adament that this repulsion should not be an act of struggling, but should arise naturally from a sense of superiority over states of mind that are unworthy. One should be filled with an “earnestly lived sense of the ‘indignity’ and irrationality of the images and inclinations that appear” (113).

The Third Instrument: Dissociation

The third technique for controlling thoughts is to not become attached to them–simply ignore them. Evola recounts a simile for this technique as well:

As a man with good sight, who does not wish to observe what comes into his field of view at a particular moment can close his eyes or look elsewhere. When attention is resolutely withheld, the images or the tendencies are again restrained. (pg. 112-113)

Evola cautions that the practitioner should be careful to not merely “chase away” a thought–doing so could have the opposite effect of causing the thought to come back even stronger. One must instead have the strength of will to not even see or acknowledge the thought.

This practice is especially useful for a normal but active state of mind (rather than when obsessed with a particular thought). This is the “monkey mind” referred to by Buddhists, in which a man is merely a passive participant of the images, emotional states, and thoughts that overtake him. Evola says these “psychoaffective aggregates of fear, desire, hope, despair, and so on, fascinate or hypnotize [the] mind, subtly tying it, they ‘manipulate’ it by their influence and feed on its energies like vampires” (pg. 113).

The Fourth Instrument: Gradual Dismemberment

The fourth technique is the practice of making the thoughts vanish, one after the next. It is a means of stopping desire by analyzing it down to its roots, so that it disappears. By examining the reasons behind every thought, behavior, and desire, a person can effectively halt any obsession.The simile is:

Just as a man walking in haste might think: ‘Why am I walking in haste? Let me go more slowly’ and, walking more slowly, might think: ‘But why am I walking at all? I wish to stand still’ and, standing still, might think: ‘For what reason am I standing up? I will sit down’ and, sitting down, might think: ‘Why must I only sit? I wish to lie down’ and might lie down; just so if harmful and unworthy thoughts, images of craving, of aversion and of blindness, again arise in an ascetic in spite of his contempt and rejection of them, he must make these thoughts successively vanish one after another.’ . . . [this way considers] them with a calm and objective eye one after another. (pg. 113)

This practice is based on what Buddhists texts call “the conditioned nature of desire.” This refers how a chain of thoughts is created, such as an obsession that feeds itself, but that can be broken if the conditions it depends and feeds upon are broken.

Direct Action (The ‘Fifth’ Instrument)

This technique is advised if none of the four instruments will work. The method is to clench the teeth and press the tongue hardly against the roof of the mouth (the palate) and, with your will, “crush, compel, beat down the mind.” The simile is:

As a strong man, seizing another weaker man by the head or by the shoulders, compels him, crushes him, throws him down. (pg. 114)

The same precaution applies for this technique as the others: It must not be performed from a place of weakness, but from a place of superiority. Evola says the practitioner must be able to call on the illumination and energy that exists outside of the samsāric current. Only then, he writes, ”is there no danger that the victory will be merely exterior and apparent, and that the enemy, instead of being destroyed, has disengaged and entrenched himself in the subconscious” (pg. 114).

*  *  *

For more on the four instruments, see Evola’s Doctrine of Awakening. For a general background on the Buddhist theories behind these instruments, see my review of The Doctrine of Awakening.

The Paintings of Julius Evola

The Paintings of Julius Evola

Ex: http://aristocratsofthesoul.wordpress.com

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interiore, illuminazione,” 1919

 

The esotericist Julius Evola came to view Dadaism as decadent later in his life, and only spent a few years as a painter. But for fans of his writing and philosophy, the paintings he did in his youth hold a special fascination, and provide insights into his later philosophy.

 

Evola has been called “Italy’s foremost exponent on Dadaism between 1920 and 1923″ (according to Roger Griffin’s Modernism and Fascism, pg. 39). Fifty-four of his paintings were exhibited in Rome in 1920, and an exhibition in Berlin included 60 paintings by Evola. and According to an essay on Dada on the website of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Evola launched a Rome Dada season in April 1921, which included an exhibition at the Galleria d’Arte Bragaglia that included works by Mantuan Dadaists Gino Cantarelli and Aldo Fiozzi, as well as performances at the Grotte dell’Augusteo cabaret. Evola did readings from Tristan Tzara’s Manifeste dada 1918 and said that Futurism was dead, causing an uproar.

 

Evola’s intellectual autobiography, The Path of Cinnabar, provides insights into Evola’s foray into the art world in the chapter “Abstract Art and Dadaism.” He was attracted to Dada for its radicalism, since it “stood for an outlook on life which expressed a tendency towards total liberation, conjoined with the upsetting of all logic, ethic and aesthetic categories, in the most paradoxical and baffling ways” (pg. 19). He quotes Tzara: “What is divine within us, is the awakening of an anti-human action” and cites a Dadaist philosophy with a premise in keeping with Evola’s thoughts on the Kali Yuga:

 

Let each person shout: there is a vast, destructive, negative task to fulfil. To swipe away, and blot out.In a world left in the hands of bandits who are ripping apart and destroying all centuries, an individual’s purity is affirmed by a condition of folly, of aggressive and utter folly. (pg. 19)

 

Evola says that such an emphasis on the absurd seems, at an external level, analogous methods used by schools of the Far East such as Zen, Ch’an, and Lao Tzu’s writings.

 

If some of Evola’s paintings seem ugly, it’s not without purpose and intent from the artist. In 1920′s Arte astratta, Evola outlined his theory that “passive aesthetic needs were subordinate to the expression of an impulse towards the unconditioned.” Dadasim, as Evola understood it, was not to create art as it’s usually understood, but “signalled the self-dissolution of art into a higher level of freedom” (Cinnabar, pg. 20-21).

 

It was during the Dadaist period of his life that Evola started reading about esotericism. He met neo-Pythagorean occultist Arturo Reghini in the early 1920s. He quit painting in the early 1920s, and stopped writing poetry in 1924–not to pursue either again for more than 40 years (according to Gwendolyn Toynton’s essay “Mercury Rising” at Primordial Traditions). Although Evola left the Dadaist movement after a few years, in an interview in 1970 he said that the movement even today “remains unsurpassed in the radicalism of its attempt to overturn not only the world of art, but all aspects of life” (Cinnabar, pg. 257).

 

The following paintings are compiled from numerous sites on the Internet. I believe this is the most complete and detailed collection of Evola paintings on the web (in English, at least).

 

Early works (1916-1918):

 

Julius Evola, “Tendenze di idealismo sensoriale” (“The tense of aesthetic idealism”), 1916-18

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Sequenza dinamica (etere)” (“Dynamic synthesis (ether)”), 1917-18

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Tendenze di idealismo sensoriale” (“The tense of aesthetic idealism”), 1916-18

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Five o’clock tea,” 1917

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Mazzo di fiori” (“Bunch of flowers”), 1918

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Fucina, studio di rumori” (“The Forge, study on noise sounds”), 1917-18

 

The painting below appears to have sold at Christie’s for $43,152. A different source gives the date as 1920-21:

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interiore ore 3 A.M.” (“Inner Landscape, 3 a.m.”), 1918

 

The following painting, according to the book Alchemical Mercury: A Theory of Ambivalence by Karen Pinkus, is now in the Kunsthaus of Zurich. On one of the many geometric blocks, Evola has written “Hg” (the symbol for Mercury) in red ink. According to Pinkus, “this is a very interesting gesture, especially as the inscription seems entirely disjoined from the composition itself, as if it had been an afterthought, and a reflection of the troubled relationship between modern chemistry as abstraction and alchemical materiality.”

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interiore, illuminazione,” 1919

 

This oil painting is hanging on a wall of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome (according to Guido Stucco’s introduction to The Yoga of Power, pg x):

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interiore ore 10,30″ (Inner Landscape, 10:30 a.m.”), 1918-20

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Senza titolo,” 1919

 

This oil-on-cardboard painting comes up in past auction searches for Evola’s work:

 

Julius Evola, “Portrait cubiste de femme,” 1919-20

 

The following two works were published in Evola’s 1920 book Arte astratta: Posizione teorica, 10 poemi, 4 composizioni (Rome: P. Maglione & G. Strini). You can see the other two compositions in a online scan of the book at the website of The International Dada Archive at the University of Iowa Libraries. Evola’s essay “Abstract Art” is available in English translation in the book Dadas on Art.

 

Julius Evola, “Composizione N. 3,” c. 1920

 

* * *

 

Julius Evola, “Composizione,” c. 1920

 

Middle Works (early 1920s):

 

Julius Evola, “Composizione (Paesaggio) dada N. 3″ (“Composition (Landscape) dada N. 3″), c. 1920

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Astrazione” (“Abstraction”), 1920

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Astrazione” (“Abstraction”), 1920

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Composizione Dada,” 1920

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Composizione n. 19,” 1918-20

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Piccola tavola (vista superiore)” (“Small table (upper surface)”), 1920

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interire, aperture del diaframma” (“Interior landscape, the opening of the diaphragm”), 1920-21

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “La libra s’infiamma e le piramidi” (“The book in flames and the piramides”), 1920-21

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “Senza titolo,” 1921

 

Late paintings:

 

Numerous sources on the web, including academic papers and art auction houses, show paintings by Evola that he did much later in his life, several which are shown below. If any readers know where to find information about Evola’s later works in English, I would greatly appreciate being contacted in order to update this section.

 

This painting was listed at an art auction website, and said to be painted in 1945:

 

Julius Evola, “Paesaggio interiore”

 

The following two paintings are cited in Julius Evola: L’Altra Faccia Della Modernita by Francesca Ricci and on the website of the Fondazione Julius Evola.

 

Julius Evola, “Nudo di donna (afroditica)” (“Nude of aphrodite beauty”), 1960-70

 

*  *  *

 

Julius Evola, “La genitrice dell’universo” (“The generator of the Universe”), 1968-70

 

*  *  *

 

Readers interested in seeing more of Evola’s artwork can check out this video, which has additional images:

 

http://youtu.be/gVIJ_1JZs-8

 

And this French TV interview, with English subtitles, is Evola on Dada:

 

http://youtu.be/mS-a4KvZH_o

Le Mazdéisme et l’Avesta : à l’origine des tribus indo-européennes

Le Mazdéisme et l’Avesta : à l’origine des tribus indo-européennes

« On vit apparaître
un si grand nombre d’analogies,
de points  identiques entre les dogmes, les mythes,
les légendes, les institutions religieuses
de l’Orient et de l’Occident,
que les recherches prirent aussitôt
une direction nouvelle et précise »

(propos sélectionnés par Fabrice Dutilleul de la préface d’Émile Burnouf)

Qu’est-ce que l’Avesta ?

C’est l’ensemble des textes sacrés de la religion mazdéenne et forme le livre sacré, le code sacerdotal des zoroastriens. Il est parfois connu en Occident sous l’appellation erronée de Zend Avesta. Il est rédigé en plusieurs états de l’iranien ancien, désignés sous le nom d’avestique. Les parties les plus anciennes, celles des gathas, sont dans une langue aussi archaïque que celle du Rig Veda (sanskrit védique), le « gathique », les autres en avestique tardif. Le tout est écrit dans l’alphabet avestique.

Et qu’est-ce que le Mazdéisme ?

Le Mazdéisme originel remonte aux tribus indo-européennes des 2e et 1er millénaires avant JC. Il possède une étroite parenté avec l’ancienne religion indienne décrite dans les Veda. Le dieu suprême, Ahura Mazda ou Ormazd (Varuna, en Inde), est entouré de divinités, les Amesa Spenta. Cette religion est donc polythéiste. La société des hommes, quant à elle, est tripartite… Prêtres, guerriers et agriculteurs-éleveurs.

Que permet la persévérance de l’étude des religions ?

Que la science cherche depuis un siècle à en saisir l’unité. L’unité cherchée n’est pas cette fusion des églises qu’ont vainement discutée Leibniz et Bossuet ; c’est la communauté des dogmes primitifs d’où les diverses religions sont sorties ; c’est une unité historique.

Comment la science a-t-elle été conduite à cette recherche ?

Ce ne fut point par une théorie préconçue, par une rêverie ; ce fut par les faits eux‑mêmes. Tant qu’on n’eut pour matériaux que les doctrines chrétiennes, soit romaines, soit orthodoxes et, d’autre part, les anciennes mythologies grecques et latines, l’opposition entre elles parut si grande qu’on ne put pas les supposer issues d’un fonds commun. Mais lorsque, dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle et dans la première moitié du XIXe, on fut en possession des livres sacrés de l’Inde et de la Perse et qu’on put converser avec des Brahmanes et des Parsis, une révolution se fit dans la science. On vit apparaître un si grand nombre d’analogies, de points  identiques entre les dogmes, les mythes, les légendes, les institutions religieuses de l’Orient et de l’Occident, que les recherches prirent aussitôt une direction nouvelle et précise.

Plusieurs conceptions primordiales ont donné lieu à plusieurs groupes de religions

Le groupe aryen parut le plus important et, après lui, le groupe sémitique. Le premier comprenait l’Inde, la Perse avec la Médie, les anciens Pélasges avec les Grecs et les Latins, les Germains, les Celtes, les Scandinaves. Le second était représenté par les peuples de race sémitique, notamment par les Assyriens, les Hébreux et plus tard par les Arabes. On voit que cette division des dogmes répond presque exactement à celle des langues. Si dans l’avenir, les langues sont, par de nouvelles découvertes, ramenées à une origine commune, il pourra en être de même des religions. Jusqu’à présent, disons‑le, rien ne fait prévoir un tel résultat. Constater des similitudes et une communauté d’origine entre plusieurs religions, ce n’est pas supprimer les différences. La science, prudente et sincère, ne supprime rien ; mais elle doit rendre raison de tous les faits constatés.

Le Mazdéisme. L’Avesta, Gaston-Eugène de Lafont, préface d’Émile Burnouf, éditions de L’Æncre, collection « Patrimoine des religions », dirigée par Philippe Randa, 238 pages, 26 euros

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L'uomo che cavalcava la tigre

L'uomo che cavalcava la tigre. Il viaggio esoterico del barone Julius

di Andrea Scarabelli

Ex: http://www.juliusevola.it

Quello che presentiamo è un autentico viaggio, realizzato attraverso le opere pittoriche evoliane, che ripercorre le tappe fondamentali della vita di quello che è uno dei protagonisti della cultura novecentesca. Un viaggio nel quale Evola non è una semplice comparsa ma autentico medium delle sue opere, trascinando il lettore all'interno del suo mondo, biografico ma soprattutto metabiografico.

Un passo per volta, però. Lo sfondo di queste pagine è il vernissage di un'ipotetica esposizione: “Ea, Jagla, Julius Evola (1898-1974), poeta, pittore, filosofo. Il barone magico. Attraverso questa Mostra, promossa dalla Fondazione Julius Evola, conosceremo l'Evola pittore futurista e dadaista. È questa la prima retrospettiva a lui dedicata nel XXI secolo” (p. 13). Henriet ci invita a questa esposizione immaginaria, all'interno della quale ogni dipinto prende vita, inaugura una dimensione metatemporale e ci conduce attraverso le sillabe alchemiche dell'universo pittorico evoliano. Senza però fermarsi alle tele, a futurismo e dadaismo ma estendendosi all'interezza della “tavolozza dai molti colori dell'Irrazionalismo evoliano” (p. 13), momento altresì fondamentale per accedere alla cultura continentale novecentesca. E chi conosce il pensiero di Evola sa bene che tipo di valenza conferire al termine “irrazionale”...

Ad accompagnare il lettore altri non è che Evola stesso, a volte sostituito dal suo doppio Ea (uno degli pseudonimi con cui questi firmava taluni dei suoi contributi su Ur e Krur, alla fine degli anni Venti). Ogni dipinto “esposto” in quella che può considerarsi una galleria anzitutto interiore ridesta nel filosofo ricordi, universi, dimensioni – realtà. In ognuno dei ventisei capitoli che costituiscono il volumetto – molti dei quali recano, non casualmente, i titoli di opere evoliane, come Five o' clock tea, Nel bosco e Truppe di rincalzo sotto la pioggia – il lettore percorre i labirinti di Evola, ognuno dei quali avente una via d'accesso differente ma tutti diretti verso il cuore della sua Weltanschauung.

In questa dimensione, a metà tra la realtà fisica ed una onirico-allucinatoria, personaggi reali interagiscono con figure fantastiche – questo l'intreccio, abilmente restituito dalle pagine di Henriet. Non è difficile così scorgere un Evola intento a leggere recensioni dei suoi dipinti sulle colonne di riviste intemporali, intrattenere conversazioni con personaggi fantastici, percorrere dimensioni ontologiche ultraterrene. Ma, al contempo, a questi itinerari sono accostati momenti storici ben precisi, con il loro corollario umano - appaiono allora Arturo Reghini, Sibilla Aleramo, Arturo Onofri, Giulio Parise e gli iniziati del Gruppo di Ur.

Ed ecco evocati, come d'incanto, gli anni Venti, delle avanguardie e dei cenacoli esoterici. Ecco le feste organizzate dagli aristocratici, frequentate dal giovane Evola, nella fattispecie una, tenutasi per festeggiare la fine della Prima Guerra Mondiale: “Julius è vestito di nero, ed ha il volto coperto da una maschera aurea, provvista di un lungo naso conico” (p. 16). È l'unico, in Italia, tra i futuristi, ad apprezzare l'arte astratta. Il futurismo non è che una maschera, gli rivela la duchessa de Andri, organizzatrice della festa, liberatevene. E, tra le boutade di Marinetti e gli abiti disegnati da Depero, “egli andò oltre” (p. 22).

Non è che l'inizio: la realtà onirica diviene visione “vera” e simboli percorrono le trame dei vari capitoli, rendendoli interdipendenti tra loro: l'ape austriaca che, muovendosi a scatti con un ritmo metallico, si posa sulla tela appena conclusa di Truppe di rincalzo sotto la pioggia è la stessa che accompagna il giovane poeta Arturo Onofri tra i colpi delle granate della Grande Guerra, nella quale “la voce di Evola è a favore degli Imperi Centrali: l'Austria e la Germania” (p. 26).

Attraversati gli scandalismi e i manifesti futuristi, percorso il nichilismo dadaistico, il cammino del cinabro evoliano procede: “In un dorato pomeriggio autunnale, in Roma, nel 1921, alle ore 17, infine Evola capì. Aveva da poco smesso di dipingere. Quell'esperienza artistica era giunta alla fine, nel senso che le sue potenzialità creative si erano esaurite: tutto quel che poteva fare attraverso i quadri per procedere nella sua ricerca interiore, ebbene, lo aveva fatto” (p. 28). Alle 17.15, Evola si libera del suo doppio dadaista per procedere oltre, dopo l'abisso delle avanguardie per poi risalire, senza incappare nell'impasse dell'inconscio freudiano surrealista e della scrittura automatica. Via, verso Ur e Krur, La Torre e la sua rivolta contro la tirannia della modernità.

Come già detto, il percorso tracciato da Henriet non si arresta all'esaurimento della fase artistica, ma procede, percorrendo tutte le sue fasi fondamentali. Un altro frammento di realtà, trasfigurato e sublimato nelle serpentine dell'ermetismo pittorico del futuro filosofo: il XXI aprile 1927, dies natalis Romae, coglie il Nostro affacciato alla finestra di una torre – non d'avorio ma “di nera ossidiana” – mentre assiste da lontano ad una parata. “Tutta l'Urbe è in festa, ma Ea preferisce restarsene da solo, nel proprio salone. Per lui, in fondo, il fascismo è troppo plebeo” (p. 41). Ed ecco comparire, a cavallo di farfalle che sorvolano la Città Eterna, gli altri membri del Gruppo di Ur, quasi a formare una delle loro catene nei cieli liberi sopra la città, sopra il mondo intero, al di sopra della storia. Henriet rievoca qui le vicende legate alla celebre Grande Orma (episodio con retroscena ancora da scoprire, come testimonia il recente ottimo libro di Fabrizio Giorgio, Roma Renovata Resurgat, Settimo Sigillo, Roma 2012): “Nel 1923 hanno donato al capo del Governo un fascio formato da un'ascia di bronzo che proviene da una misteriosa e antica tomba etrusca, e dodici verghe di betulla, legate con strisce di cuoio rosso” (p. 42). La Tradizione porge la mano alla Storia, aspettando una risposta. Sono anni cruciali, questi, nei quali in poche ore possono decidersi non solo i destini di un decennio ma le sorti di un'intera civiltà. Riuscirà il fascismo a farsi depositario del proprio destino romano? Sono in molti a chiederselo. Attonito, Evola assiste al Concordato, al vanificarsi di un sogno, “ancora una volta è solo”, “uno spirito libero e aristocratico, fuori tempo e fuori luogo” (p. 42): in una parola, inattuale, in senso nietzschiano. Così, mentre le piazze gorgogliano dei singhiozzi gioiosi di quegli stessi che all'indomani del fallimento del fascismo prepareranno le forche e accenderanno i roghi, Evola se ne rimane in disparte. Alla fine della scena, una camicia nera emerge dal buio della notte, gli si avvicina, pronunciando, con una voce d'acciaio, queste parole: Il Natale romano è finito, barone. Da ora in poi, il destino degli eventi a venire è già scritto.

Ed ecco la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, la guerra civile europea, l'inizio di un nuovo ciclo, sul quale già pesa il presagio dell'ipoteca. Il viaggio nella prima mostra evoliana del XXI secolo continua, tra anticipazioni e retrospettive. Nella camera magica, Evola vede quello che sarà il suo destino: “In piedi, tra le rovine fumanti d'Europa, al termine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, si aggira per Vienna. 1945. Una visione di morte. La tigre diventa metallo: la carne si solidifica” (p. 47). Sbalzato contro un muro dallo spostamento d'aria causato da una bomba, trascorrerà il resto della sua esistenza affetto da una semiparalisi degli arti inferiori.

Il Barone è costretto su una carrozzella, novella tigre d'acciaio. Il secondo dopoguerra. Con una certa ironia (che non sarebbe dispiaciuta al Barone ma che forse non piacerà a certi “evolomani”, come scrive Gianfranco de Turris nella sua Introduzione) l'autore immagina che proprio a cavallo di questa nuova tigre il Nostro continui la sua battaglia. Inizia a dipingere copie dei suoi dipinti degli anni Venti, dispersi (ossia venduti) durante la celebre retrospettiva del 1963. Eppure, anche in questa nuova situazione, si profilano nuovi attacchi, nuove situazioni da superare, come i Rivoluzionari del Sesso (evidente richiamo alle dottrine di Wilhelm Reich). Ed ecco gli Anti-Veglianti, Signori dell'Occhio, che tentano di impiantare un Occhio televisivo al posto di quelli biologici, teso ad uniformare Evola al mondo moderno, alla tirannia dell'homo oeconomicus e dei Mezzi di Comunicazione di Massa, che al terzo occhio ne sostituiscono uno artefatto e anestetizzante, che riduce l'uomo a Uomo Banale e Mediocre. Ma Evola riesce a fuggire.

Ennesima anticipazione: questa volta in alta montagna, molti passi sul mare, ancora di più sull'uomo, come aveva scritto Nietzsche. Eccolo assistere in anteprima alla deposizione delle sue ceneri sul ghiacciaio del Lys. Allucinato da uno dei suoi quadri, Evola ha una visione di quel che sarà: “Il vento spira freddo, la luce del sole è netta, brillante. Il silenzio domina tutto. I ghiacci eterni scintillano. V'è una gran quiete, tesa, nervosamente carica di energia in potenza” (p. 36). Per disposizione testamentaria, il suo corpo viene cremato, le ceneri disperse sulle Alpi. Così vive la propria morte Ea, Jagla, il Barone – nel libro non la conoscerà mai più, fisicamente. Si addormenterà, sognando un'intervista realizzata per la televisione svizzera nei primi anni Ottanta. Il “diamante pazzo” che scaglia bagliori qua e là, illuminando ora l'uno ora l'altro frammento del firmamento occidentale, è seduto “sulla sua tigre a dondolo, in legno aromatico e dai colori smaltati in vernice brillante” (p. 67). Certo, pensa Evola beffardamente, parlare di certe cose nel mondo moderno, servendosi dei media (chissà che avrebbe pensato oggi, nell'epoca della Rete...), non è certo ottimale. Comincia a dubitare della sua decisione di concedere l'intervista. Questa posizione a cavallo della tigre comincia ad apparirgli un po' scomoda. Risponde alle domande, ribadendo le proprie posizioni di fronte al neospiritualismo, alle censure di certe cricche intellettuali e via dicendo. Ma la realtà del suo sogno inizia a sfaldarsi. Il suo pellegrinaggio nel kali-yuga lo ha prosciugato: “Evola non immaginava che sarebbe stato così difficile. Il sogno della realtà è diventato un caos indistinto di colori acidi” (p. 71). Abbandonandosi al disfacimento dell'architettura onirica nella quale si vive morente, si spegne, “gli occhi accecati da una radianza aurea intensissima” (Ibid.). Il confine tra sogno e realtà è disciolto per sempre: Evola, che aveva visto la propria fine vivente in uno dei suoi quadri, ora vive la propria morte in un sogno.

Scritto con un registro stilistico iperbolico ed evocativo, il libro di Henriet, come messo a fuoco da de Turris nella già citata introduzione, non è però solo una rassegna di queste esperienze, quanto piuttosto una ricognizione sul senso dell'interezza del sentiero del cinabro, portato a stadio mercuriale durante il corso della vita del Nostro. Come è noto, a partire peraltro dalla sua biografia spirituale, il Cammino del cinabro, Evola diede pochissimo spazio a dettagli di ordine personale, preferendo ad essi un'impersonalità attiva fatta di testimonianze ed opere. In uno degli ultimi capitoli, Henriet scrive: “Della vita privata di Ea si sapeva poco, era come se non gli fosse accaduto nulla di personale. Egli era semplicemente il mezzo, uno dei possibili, attraverso i quali l'Io originario – la Genitrice dell'Universo, una delle Madri di Goethe – operava su quel piano della realtà, governato dalle regole del tempo e dello spazio” (p. 62). In questo può risolversi l'esercizio della prassi tradizionale, per come interpretata dal filosofo romano. Una azione nella quale l'essere un mezzo di istanze sovraindididuali non annichilisce l'Io, come vorrebbero invece talune spiritualità fideistiche sempre avversate da Evola, ma lo potenzia, finanche a realizzarlo in tutti i suoi molteplici stati. Un monito, questo, quanto mai attuale, tanto per accedere all'universo evoliano quanto per attraversare illesi il mondo moderno, sopravvivendo alle sue chimere e fascinazioni.

Alberto Henriet, L'uomo che cavalcava la tigre. Il viaggio esoterico del barone Julius. Presentazione di Gianfranco de Turris, Gruppo Editoriale Tabula Fati, Chieti 2012, pp. 80, Euro 8,00.

 

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titolo: L'uomo che cavalcava la tigre. Il viaggio esoterico del barone Julius

autore/curatore: Andrea Scarabelli
fonte: Fondazione Julius Evola
tratto da: http://www.fondazionejuliusevola.it/Documenti/recensioneScarabelli_Sito.doc
lingua: italiano
data di pubblicazione su juliusevola.it: 10/06/2013

LE JAPON MEDIEVAL : LE MONDE A L'ENVERS...

LE JAPON MEDIEVAL : LE MONDE A L'ENVERS...

 

Connaitre l’autre pour être soi-même

Rémy Valat

Ex: http://metamag.fr

Le Japon médiéval est méconnu en France et grande est la tentation de le comparer à la période féodale européenne, tant il est vrai que nombreuses similitudes peuvent être constatées entre ces deux modèles de sociétés pourtant situées aux deux extrémités du continent eurasiatique. 

Ce rapprochement, plutôt cette interprétation, est notamment le produit de l'historiographie nippone : le terme de « Moyen-Âge » apparaît pour la première fois sous la plume de l'historien Hara Katsurô, auteur d'une Histoire du Moyen-Âge parue en 1906. Pour lui, cette période instable et transitoire se situe entre deux sociétés stabilisées : Heian (794-1185) et Edo (1603-1867). Ce néologisme s'imposa sur l'appellation originelle des contemporains (l'« âge des guerriers »). Il est vrai que l'émiettement de l'autorité, la captation du pouvoir politique par les hommes d'armes, l'apparition de liens de vassalité, la naissance de seigneuries foncières, le phénomène monastique, l'émergence d'oppositions pour les libertés communales, l'essor économique et démographique, le développement d'une bourgeoisie urbaine favorisent le rapprochement (en dépit d'un décalage chronologique dans le développement de ce type de société au Japon).

 

 

À l'heure de la montée en puissance du nationalisme et d'une politique coloniale dynamique, le livre Hara Katsurô écrit dans le contexte de la victorieuse guerre russo-japonaise souhaite interpréter le « Moyen-Âge » comme une période fondatrice, d'affirmation de l'identité nationale, similaire à la période féodale européenne et où auraient dominé les valeurs martiales : ce discours visait à démontrer une « supériorité intrinsèque » des industries et des armées japonaises et à légitimer l'expansion coloniale en Asie. Une idée similaire sous-tend le livre de Nitobe Inazo, Le Bushidô : l'âme du Japon, ouvrage paru en 1910 et très prisé des artistes martiaux ou amoureux de la chose militaire qui tombent dans le piège tendu par l'auteur... 

Le travail de Pierre-François Souyri a été de « remettre à l'endroit » l'histoire médiévale nippone et de corriger cette interprétation... L'histoire du Japon médiéval : le monde à l'envers, paru cette année au éditions Perrin-Tempus , paru en août 2013, est une réédition de l'ouvrage Monde à l'envers, la dynamique de la société médiévale, publié par la très regrettée maison d'éditions Maisonneuve et Larose en 1998. Le contenu de ce livre offre une forte similitude avec la 3ème partie (consacrée au Moyen-Âge) du même auteur de L'histoire du Japon des origines à nos jours, paru chez Hermann en 2009  avec cependant un intéressant chapitre additionnel comparant les sociétés médiévales européennes et nippones (chapitre 13. De la comparaison entre les sociétés médiévales d'Occident et du Japon). L'auteur, Pierre-François Souyri, professeur à l'université de Genève et ancien directeur la Maison Franco-japonaise de Tôkyô, est un spécialiste incontesté du sujet : on lui doit notamment la traduction du livre de Katsumata Shizuo relatif aux coalitions et ligues de la période médiévale (Ikki. Coalitions, ligues et révoltes dans le Japon d'autrefois, CNRS éditions, 2011). Enfin, le livre se fonde sur une abondante documentation et sources primaires japonaises, soigneusement confrontées et analysées. 

L'« âge des guerriers » est une période foisonnante, aussi violente que créatrice. Après la victoire du clan des Minamoto sur celui des Taira (1185), un premier pouvoir militaire central s'impose : le shôgunat de Kamakura (1185-1333). Minamoto Yoritomo obtient de l'empereur le titre de sei tai shôgun (征夷大将軍 ), c'est-à-dire de « général en chef chargé de la pacification des barbares ». Mais, à la mort de ce dernier en 1199, le pouvoir réel échappe au fils du défunt (Minamoto Yoriie) ; le pouvoir est confié à un conseil de vassaux que domine le clan des Hôjô, clan dont l'influence ne cesse de s'étendre et de s'affirmer. Le shôgunat de Kamakura est resté dans toutes les mémoires en raison du célèbre épisode des tentatives d'invasions mongoles, dispersées par un typhon, un « vent divin » (1274 et 1281)... Ce long XIIIe siècle est propice à une intense réflexion spirituelle et à la contestation religieuse : des réformes sont initiées par les prédicateurs Hônen, Shinran, Nichiren et les maîtres zen, Eisai et Dôgen. 

L'échec des invasions mongoles aussi est le prélude à la chute du clan Hôjô, incapable de récompenser les guerriers qui ont contribué aussi bien financièrement que par leur engagement personnel à la victoire. Une coalition de malcontents appuie l'empereur Go Daigo qui réalise une éphémère et autoritaire restauration impériale (restauration Kemmu, 1333-1336). L'empire se scinde ensuite en deux entités rivales (les cours du Nord et du Sud) ; la guerre civile fait rage, mais celle-ci profite au clan des Ashigaka, partisan de la cours kyôtoîte du Nord : en 1338, Ashikaga Takauji reprend la fonction de shôgun. Après la défaite de la « cour sudiste » en 1392 : les Ashikaga deviennent les maîtres du pays. La période Muromachi (1392-vers 1490) est entrecoupée de crises politiques et sociales sur fond d'essor économique (développement d'une économie commerciale avec échanges monétaires et premières tentatives d'accumulation de capital). C'est le « monde à l'envers » (gekokujô, 下剋上) : les mouvements civils ou religieux d'autonomie rurale et urbaine et l'irrésistible ascension de la classe des guerriers débouchent sur un affrontement général, dont l'enjeu devient l'unification du pays. Oda Nabunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi et Tokugawa Ieyasu la réaliseront au prix d'une longue guerre contre les forces politiques centrifuges, conflit dont Ieyasu sort vainqueur en créant la dernière dynastie de shôgun en 1603.

 
Le monde à l'envers c'est surtout celui des petites gens avides d'autonomie et d'ascension sociales dans un contexte de mutation économique et sociale, mais aussi celui d'un monde flottant qui a influencé les modes de vie et la culture nippones (les parias, appelés notamment kawaramono, 河原者). Les guerriers, acteurs principaux de la période médiévale et en particulier ceux de l'est de l'île d'Honshû, s'organisent sur une base familiale et clanique et créent des liens de vassalité (bushidan, 武士団). Ils sont issus de lignées de déclassés de la cour (voire de princes de la famille impériale, c'est le cas du lignage des Taira et des Minamoto qui font s'affronter entre 1180 et 1185) venu tenter leur chance loin de la capitale ou bien proviennent du milieu des paysans aisés et de la petite notabilité rurale. Ces hommes sont très attachés à leur terroir et défendent les intérêts des travailleurs de la terre, desquels ils se désolidarisent progressivement pour les dominer. Ces militaires en quête d'ascension sociale et de récompenses sont loin de la représentation conventionnelle du serviteur fidèle et loyal façonnée à l'époque d'Edo. Leur engagement est conditionné par les revenus de leurs terres : la période des récoltes (et de la perception des redevances) venue, le souffle d'un vent politique ou militaire contraire, ces hommes s'évaporent ou changent de camp. Leurs prouesses militaires, relatées dans les « dits » servent autant à bâtir une réputation qu'à ouvrir droit à récompenses... Si la bravoure du guerrier japonais médiéval ne peut être remis en question, leur éthique et leurs motivations étaient cependant plus prosaïques... 

Histoire du Japon médiéval, le monde à l'envers, de Pierre-François Souyri, aux éditions Perrin-Tempus, août 2013, 522 p.
 

Un texte du 19ème siècle sur la formation du Samouraï déchiffré

Auteur : Les Découvertes Archéologiques 

Ex: http://www.zejournal.mobi

Un texte d'entraînement, utilisé par une école d'arts martiaux pour enseigner aux membres de la classe bushi (samurai ou samouraï), a été déchiffré. Il révèle les règles que les samouraïs étaient censés suivre et ce qu'il fallait faire pour devenir un véritable maître épéiste.

Le texte est appelé Bugei no jo, ce qui signifie "Introduction aux arts martiaux" et est daté de la 15e année de Tenpo (1844).

Écrit pour les étudiants samouraïs sur le point d'apprendre le Takenouchi-Ryu, un système d'arts martiaux , il devait les préparer pour les défis qui les attendaient.

Une partie du texte traduit donne ceci: "Ces techniques de l'épée, nées à l'âge des dieux, ont été prononcées par la transmission divine. Elles forment une tradition vénérée de par le monde, mais sa magnificence se manifeste seulement quand on a pris connaissance (...). Quand [la connaissance] est arrivée à maturité, l'esprit oublie la main, la main oublie l'épée," un niveau de compétence que peu obtiennent et qui requiert un esprit calme.

Le texte comprend des citations écrites par les anciens maîtres militaires chinois et est écrit dans un style Kanbun formel: un système qui combine des éléments de l'écriture japonaise et chinoise.

Le texte a été publié à l'origine par des chercheurs en 1982, dans sa langue originale, dans un volume de l'ouvrage "Nihon Budo Taikei." Récemment, il a été partiellement traduit en anglais et analysé par Balázs Szabó, du département d'études japonaises de l'Université Eötvös Loránd à Budapest, en Hongrie.

La traduction et l'analyse sont décrites dans la dernière édition de la revue Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae.

Parmi ses nombreux enseignements, le texte dit aux élèves de montrer une grande discipline et de ne pas craindre le nombre d'ennemis. "(...) c'est comme franchir la porte d'où nous voyons l'ennemi, même nombreux, nous les voyons comme quelques uns, donc aucune crainte ne s'éveille, et nous triomphons alors que le combat vient à peine de commencer", citation d'un enseignement Sur les Sept Classiques Militaires de la Chine ancienne.

Le dernier siècle des samouraïs

En 1844, seuls les membres de la classe Samouraï étaient autorisés à recevoir une formation d'arts martiaux. Szabó explique que cette classe était strictement héréditaire et qu'il y avait peu de possibilités pour les non-samurai d'y adhérer.

Les étudiants Samurai, dans la plupart des cas, auraient participé à plusieurs écoles d'arts martiaux et, en outre, auraient appris "l'écriture chinoise, les classiques confucéens et la poésie dans les écoles du domaine ou des écoles privées", a expliqué Szabó.
Les étudiants qui commencent leur formation de Takenouchi-ryu en 1844 ne réalisaient pas qu'ils vivaient à une époque où le Japon était sur ??le point de subir d'énormes changements.

Pendant deux siècles, il y a eu des restrictions sévères sur les Occidentaux entrant au Japon. Cela a pris fin en 1853 quand le commodore américain Matthew Perry est entré dans la baie de Tokyo avec une flotte et a exigé que le Japon signe un traité avec les États-Unis.
Dans les deux décennies qui ont suivi, une série d'événements et de guerres ont éclaté qui on vu la chute du Japon Shogun, la montée d'un nouveau Japon moderne et, finalement, la fin de la classe des Samouraïs.

Les règles Samurai.

Le texte qui vient d'être traduit énonce 12 règles que les membres de l'école de Takenouchi-ryu étaient censés suivre.
Certaines d'entre elles, dont "Ne quittez pas le chemin de l'honneur !" et "Ne commettez pas de turpitude !" étaient des règles éthiques que les samouraïs étaient censés suivre.

 

Une règle notable, "Ne laissez pas les enseignements de l'école s'échapper !" a été créé pour protéger les techniques secrètes d'arts martiaux de l'école et à aider les élèves s'ils devaient se trouver au milieu d'un combat.

"Pour une école d'arts martiaux ... afin d'être attrayante, il était nécessaire de disposer de techniques spéciales permettant au combattant d'être efficace même contre un adversaire beaucoup plus fort. Ces techniques sophistiquées faisaient la fierté de l'école et étaient gardées secrètes, car leur fuite aurait causé une perte aussi bien économique que de prestige", écrit Szabó.

Deux autres règles, peut-être plus surprenantes, précisent que les étudiants "ne se concurrencent pas !" et "Ne racontent pas de mauvaises choses sur d'autres écoles !".

Les occidentaux modernes ont une vision populaire des samouraïs s'affrontant régulièrement, mais en 1844, ils n'étaient pas autorisés à se battre entre eux.
Le shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) avait placé une interdiction sur les duels d'arts martiaux et a même réécrit le code que le samouraï devait suivre, en l'adaptant pour une période de paix relative. "L'apprentissage et la compétence militaire, la loyauté et la piété filiale, doit être promue, et les règles de la bienséance doivent être exécutées correctement", expliquait le shogun (traduction du livre "Études sur l'histoire intellectuelle du Japon des Tokugawa," par Masao Maruyama, Princeton University Press, 1974).

Les compétences secrètes.

Le texte propose seulement un faible aperçu des techniques secrètes que les élèves auraient appris à cette école, en séparant les descriptions en deux parties appelées "secrets les plus profonds du combat" et "secrets les plus profonds de l'escrime."

Une partie des techniques secrètes de combat à mains nues est appelé Shinsei no daiji, ce qui se traduit par "techniques divines", indiquant que ces techniques étaient considérées comme les plus puissantes.

Curieusement, une section de techniques secrètes d'escrime est répertoriée comme ?ry?ken, également connu sous le nom IJU ichinin, ce qui signifie "ceux considérés être accordés à une personne" - dans ce cas, l'héritier du directeur.

Le manque de détails décrivant ces techniques dans des cas pratiques n'est pas surprenant pour Szabó. Les directeurs avaient des raisons pour utiliser un langage crypté et l'art du secret.

Non seulement ils protégeaient le prestige de l'école, et les chances des élèves dans un combat, mais ils contribuaient à "maintenir une atmosphère mystique autour de l'école," quelque chose d'important pour un peuple qui tenait l'étude des arts martiaux en haute estime.

 - Source : Les Découvertes Archéologique